ICs Up Port Count In Fibre Channel Storage Systems

The integration of more ports and disk drives in Fibre Channel storage systems while maintaining high gigabit signal quality with lower component count are the claims made for VSC7140 Dual Repeater/Hub Node and the VSC7128 Hex Port Bypass Circuit/Dual Repeater chips. These GaAs ICs are said to better the performance of less integrated bipolar and gigabit CMOS devices with less jitter and the ability to drive greater distances with no premium on price. Using these devices, designers can develop storage arrays with more drives and integrated hub ports. The ICs exceed the requirements of the ANSI X3T11 Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL) Direct Attach Disk Drive specification for high capacity and robust storage peripherals.