The IBM® System Storage® SAN768B and IBM System Storage SAN384B fabric
backbones are highly robust network switching platforms designed for evolving
enterprise data centers. Each machine combines breakthrough performance,
scalability and energy efficiency with long-term investment protection.
Supporting open systems and System z® environments, they address data growth and
server virtualization challenges; enable server, SAN and data center
consolidation; minimize disruption and risk; and reduce infrastructure and
administrative costs.
Built for large enterprise networks, the SAN768B has eight vertical blade
slots to provide up to 512 8-Gbps Fibre Channel ports. The SAN384B is ideal for
midsize core or edge deployments, providing four horizontal blade slots and up
to 256 8-Gbps Fibre Channel ports. The flexible blade architecture also supports
FCoE, fabric-based encryption for data-at-rest and SAN extension advanced
functionality for high-performance server I/O consolidation, data protection and
disaster recovery solutions.
The SAN768B and SAN384B are extremely efficient at reducing power
consumption, cooling and the carbon footprint in data centers. While providing
exceptional performance and scale, these networking backbones use less than one
watt per Gbps—significantly more efficient than alternate offerings.
The SAN768B and SAN384B build on years of innovation, using the core
technology of systems designed to perform at greater than 99.999 percent uptime
in the world’s most demanding data centers. With its intelligent
sixth-generation application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and advanced
hardware and software capabilities, the SAN768B and SAN384B provide a reliable
foundation for fully connected multiprotocol SAN fabrics capable of supporting
thousands of servers, storage and networking devices.
As members of the IBM System Storage family of b-type SAN products, the
SAN768B and the SAN384B are designed to participate in fabrics containing other
b-type and m-type devices manufactured by Brocade. This versatile hardware can
serve as the backbone in a complex fabric and provide connections to other
b-type and m-type directors, switches and routers.