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Computer peripherals industry

Western Digital and Partners Announce Standardization of Fibre Channel Specification

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

Western Digital Corp. has announced a collaborative agreement with AMP Inc., Compaq, and Sun Microsystems to standardize on a single specification for computing applications that require "hot-plug" and "hot-growth" scalability at one gigabit-per-second data rates. The companies aim to make the full specification available for industry-wide use, including module, system, networking, and connector manufacturers.

Key Takeaways:

  • The companies have developed a specification for Fibre Channel interconnect infrastructure to support distributed enterprise computing.
  • The new specification will enable system and network manufacturers to take advantage of lower power, higher reliability features for clustered and switched applications over fiber optics.
  • Western Digital is now sampling a Fibre Channel Optical-to-Electrical transceiver module, the OE1063SW, which implements the Fibre Channel physical layer -- 2 ANSI standard specification.
  • The OE1063SW provides high-speed, fiber optic serial links at a signaling rate of 1062.5 Mbits per second transmission.
  • The new transceiver module will enable customers to deploy a centralized, truly scalable and flexible architecture for distributed computing.
  • AMP has utilized extensive electrical modeling and simulation to validate the connector's signal integrity and ability to meet the rigorous demands for high-speed operation, ESD protection, blind mating, and hot pluggability.
  • Western Digital is a leader in information storage management and has designed and manufactured hard disk drives and input/output devices for personal and enterprise-wide computing.

Statistics:

  • The new specification supports data rates of one gigabit-per-second.
  • The OE1063SW transceiver module provides high-speed, fiber optic serial links at a signaling rate of 1062.5 Mbits per second transmission.
  • The new connector has been tested to meet the demands for high-speed operation, ESD protection, blind mating, and hot pluggability.
  • Western Digital has designed and manufactured over 15,000 hard disk drives and input/output devices.
  • The company has a global presence with manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Asia, and Europe.

Sources:

  • Business Wire, November 20, 1995
  • Western Digital Corp. press release (no date)
  • Brenda Bennett, Western Digital Corp., 206/712-0735

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