NVMe over Fibre Channel builds on the performance improvements delivered by Emulex Gen 6 HBAs, which cuts latency in half versus the previous generation. The combination of Emulex Gen 6 with NVMe over Fibre Channel delivers an even greater reduction of 75% in latency versus legacy 8Gb Fibre Channel storage networks.
Emulex NVMe-enabled HBAs meet the newly ratified NVMe over Fabrics (NVMf) standard to ensure interoperability across the eco-system.
Fibre Channel supports both standard storage arrays and new NVMe over Fibre Channel arrays on the same fabric. The dual-mode feature provides investment protection by supporting SCSI storage arrays installed in the datacenter and new NVMe storage arrays, concurrently. The solution is also Software Defined Storage-ready with the availability of an Software Development Kit (SDK) for Emulex HBAs that provides all the tools needed to build an NVMe external storage system based on standard server hardware.
NVMe over Fibre Channel is the optimal fabric solution providing multiple advantages including:
Performance:
- Gen 6 Fibre Channel at 32Gb delivers 28% faster performance than 25Gb Ethernet solutions
- Provides consistent performance under heavy workloads due to the robust, credit based flow control, Fibre Channel fabric
- Provides scale to NVMe storage solutions built on a robust network, scaling beyond a rack to across the
Enterprise Data Center
Protection:
- Lossless, robust protocol
- Fibre Channel’s purpose-built design ensures consistent and reliable data delivery
- Easy and cost effective to implement
- FC switches available today support NVMe over Fibre Channel and require no hardware changes and no new training or expertise
Proven:
- Fibre Channel is the dominant choice for enterprise-class workloads
- 90% of all-flash array deployments use Fibre Channel
- High performance Fibre Channel connected storage represents a
$100 billion installed base
Emulex NVMe over Fibre Channel is expected to be broadly deployed with the release of servers based on Intel’s Purley Platform and supporting operating system releases.
Industry Support for NVMe over Fibre Channel
“NVMe over Fabrics is going to fundamentally change datacenter architectures over the next few years,” said
“NVMe will be the next disruptive technology for enterprise storage,” said
"Fibre Channel is an excellent transport for NVMe over Fabrics because of its strong presence in enterprise datacenters supporting storage systems," said
“Broadcom has delivered a solution for customers that require high performance, shared storage over a network with NVMe over Fibre Channel,” said
"Sharing storage over a network brings a number of benefits including more efficient use of storage which avoids storage islands and storage arrays providing full featured, mature storage services such as snap shots, backup, replication, thin provisioning, de-duplication, encryption, compression, and more," said