IBM 6Gb Directors Expanded

The IBM System Storage SAN768B-2 and SAN192B-2 b-type 16 Gbps director models now offer additional connectivity with added support for IBM FICON connectivity for servers and storage, and offer ease-of-use management with FICON CUP activation. This support is designed to allow in-band management for selected IBM System z servers.

The 8 Gbps FICON Accelerator leverages emulation techniques to reduce or eliminate performance degradation for mainframe applications across IP WANs. The following new optional features are now available for IBM System Storage SAN768B-2 (2499-816) and SAN384B-2 (2499-416) directors.

FICON with CUP activation
FICON with CUP Activation provides in-band management of the supported SAN b-type switch and director products by system automation for z/OS from IBM System z10 EC, z10 BC, z9 EC, z9 BC, zSeries 990, 890, zEnterprise z196, and z114 servers. To enable in-band management on multiple switches and directors, each chassis must be configured with the appropriate FICON CUP feature. This support provides a single point of control for managing connectivity in active FICON I/O configurations. System automation for OS/390 or z/OS can now concurrently manage IBM 9032 ESCON directors, in addition to supported SAN b-type switch and director products with FICON.

FICON with CUP activation
FICON with CUP Activation provides in-band management of the supported SAN b-type switch and director products by System Automation for z/OS from IBM System z10 EC, z10 BC, z9 EC, z9 BC, zSeries 990, 890, zEnterprise z196, and z114 servers. To enable in-band management on multiple switches and directors, each chassis must be configured with the appropriate FICON CUP feature. This support provides a single point of control for managing connectivity in active FICON I/O configurations. System Automation for OS/390 or z/OS can now concurrently manage IBM 9032 ESCON Directors, as well as supported SAN b-type switch and director products with FICON.

8 Gbps FICON Accelerator Activation
The 8 Gbps FICON Accelerator Activation is an optional software authorization feature that uses advanced networking technologies, data management techniques, and protocol intelligence to accelerate FICON disk and tape read and write operations over distance, while maintaining the integrity of command and acknowledgment sequences. It supports emulation for IBM z/OS Global Mirror (formerly eXtended Remote Copy or XRC), in addition to tape pipelining for FICON tape and virtual tape. In combination with the 8 Gbps Advanced Extension Activation (#7891) feature code for FCIP tunneling, FICON Accelerator can provide improved application performance across long distance IP WANs. Each 8 Gbps FICON Accelerator Activation feature is licensed for one 8 Gbps Extension Blade to be used in the SAN768B-2 or the SAN384B-2 fabric backbone.

Transceiver
SAN768B-2 and SAN384B-2 also offer a 4 Gbps shortwave optical transceiver feature to be used in the ten IP ports of an 8 Gbps Extension Blade. It can provide FC connections at distances up to 150 meters while using the appropriate 50.0/125 micron (50u) fiber optic cable, and distances up to 70 meters while using the appropriate 62.5/125 micron (62.5u) fiber optic cable.

Key prerequisites
The IBM Systems Storage SAN b-type switch family supports FC connectivity for servers and storage. SAN768B-2 and SAN384B-2 support all features and functions listed and require Fabric OS level 7.0.0, and later.

Planned availability date
December 2, 2011