IBM SAN48B-5 Switch Delivers 16Gb FC Connectivity

The IBM System Storage SAN48B-5 Switch is designed to meet the demands of hyper-scale, private cloud storage environments by delivering 16 Gbps FC technology and capabilities that support virtualized environments.

The following SAN48B-5 features
enable flexibility and investment protection:

Up to 16 Gbps with up to 48 ports in an energy-efficient, 1U form factor
PoD capability for scaling from 24 to 48 ports in 12-port increments
2, 4, 8, 10, or up to 16 Gbps on all ports producing an aggregate up to 768 Gbps full-duplex throughput
16 Gbps optimized Inter-Switch Links (ISLs)
128 Gbps high-performance and resilient frame-based trunking

The IBM SAN48B-5 provides a building block for virtualized, private cloud storage environments. It can simplify server virtualization and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) management while meeting the high-throughput demand of enterprise data centers with capabilities such as:

10G FC integration on the same port for DWDM metro connectivity on the same switch
Multi-tenancy in cloud environments through Virtual Fabrics, Integrated Routing, QoS, and fabric-based zoning features
In-flight compression and encryption for efficient link utilization and security

SAN48B-5 delivers SAN technology within a flexible, simple, and easy-to-use solution. In addition to providing scalability, SAN48B-5 can address demanding reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS) requirements to help minimize downtime to support mission-critical cloud environments with:

Simple configuration through EZSwitchSetup wizard
Diagnostic Port (D-Port) feature for physical media diagnostic, troubleshooting, and verification services
Redundant, hot-pluggable components and non-disruptive software upgrades
Real-time power monitoring to monitor power usage of the fabric at a node level

Key prerequisites

The IBM Systems Storage SAN b-type switch family supports FC connectivity for servers and storage. The SAN48B-5 supports all features and functions as indicated in this announcement and require Fabric OS level 7.0.0, and later.

Planned availability date

August 26, 2011