Spirent HyperMetrics 2/4/8Gb FC Test Module

Responding to the performance demands of dynamic, terabit-capacity data centers, Spirent Communications plc, in enterprise network testing, introduced the Spirent HyperMetrics 2/4/8Gb Fibre Channel test module.

By leveraging a holistic, unified test system, data center operators, network equipment vendors and system integrators can test every aspect of tomorrow’s converged networks pre and post deployment.

“With data center applications pushing the need for greater and faster storage while increasing connectivity efficiencies, it’s vital to test the performance of new converged FCoE and native Fibre Channel networks and switches,” said Tim Jefferson, general manager, Converged Core Solutions group, Spirent Communications. “Spirent has been pioneer in Fibre Channel testing for more than a decade and is now driving a new set of benchmarking methodologies to meet the requirements of a new generation of data center implementations.”

The 2/4/8 Gigabit HyperMetrics Fibre Channel test module enables developers and IT managers to understand performance at true data center scale and identifies issues before they impact the live network. In conjunction with Spirent HyperMetrics 10GbE Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) test module, the Fibre Channel solution delivers the industry’s first layer 2-7 converged data center performance benchmarking test system. Together, they reduce the total cost of ownership by eliminating the complexity of multiple systems and significantly shorten the learning curve.

The HyperMetrics Fibre Chanel module
is specifically designed to:

• Give engineers a complete picture of the end-to-end performance across the Fibre Channel to FCoE boundary;
• Compare FCoE versus native Fibre Channel data center network performance;
• Measure and validate low latency performance required by data storage applications from FCoE to FC and FC to FCoE at various rates up to the throughput limit; and
• Validate lossless data transfers under congestion between FCoE per Priority Flow Control (PFC) and Fibre Channel buffer and credit mechanisms.