QLogic Switch Silicon Integrated Into new Cisco Storage Router

Supporting its vision of a storage area network (SAN) in every business,QLogic Corp. has announced that its highly integrated Fibre Channel “switch-on-a-chip” has been implemented in the new Cisco SN 5428 Storage Router from Cisco Systems, Inc. The Cisco SN 5428, available today, is the industry’s first storage networking platform to incorporate both IP and Fibre Channel switching technologies, allowing workgroups to cost effectively migrate from direct attached storage (DAS) to SAN environments.

By combining Fibre Channel and iSCSI/IP technologies, the Cisco SN 5428 allows workgroups such as small and medium sized-businesses and enterprise departments to take advantage of familiar networking concepts and ease migration to SANs and their benefits. SANs give these workgroups more efficient storage utilization, centralized backup and easier management, translating into lower total cost of ownership and increased productivity.

“Cisco’s core strategy for advancing the storage networking industry is to promote interoperability standards by integrating intelligent networking services such as advanced security, VLANs and QoS to make storage networks more scalable and manageable,” said Mark Cree, general manager of the Storage Router Business Unit at Cisco. “The Cisco SN 5428 extends this vision to the workgroup level through a multi-protocol, highly scalable and highly manageable storage networking solution.”

The Cisco SN 5428 offers two Gigabit Ethernet ports, for connectivity to standard TCP/IP networks, and eight 2-gigabit Fibre Channel fabric switch ports enabled by QLogic technology. These 2-gigabit ports are backward compatible with 1Gb Fibre Channel devices. Critical to successful operation in heterogeneous (multi-vendor) server environments, the Cisco SN 5428 is interoperable with Fibre Channel and iSCSI devices with industry-leading driver support from both QLogic and Cisco for Microsoft Windows 2000 and NT, Sun Solaris, HP-UX, IBM AIX, and several flavors of Linux operating systems.

QLogic is the leading supplier of embedded Fibre Channel switches for servers, storage and storage routers. Direct integration of QLogic switch technology translates into several benefits for OEM customers including reduced power consumption, easier SAN implementation and management for end users and lower overall system costs.