The Foundation Of High-Speed Storage: Why Infrastructure Strategy Matters for Gen 7

In the modern data center, the physical layer has evolved from a simple utility into a strategic asset. As organizations move toward 64G Gen 7 Fiber Channel, the margin for error effectively disappears. That means the success of a high-speed storage strategy is now dictated by the quality of the underlying connectivity.

CRNtv’s Jon Alba spoke with Robert Reid, Engineering Development Strategy Manager at Panduit, to discuss the macro-trends driving the need for higher signal integrity, how to de-risk high-speed deployments, and why an end-to-end ecosystem is the key to a consistent SAN experience.

Jon Alba: Robert, what specific design choices make Panduit’s Gen 7 SAN Connectivity Solution different from other connectivity options on the market?

Robert Reed: You mentioned low risk. We tend to take the parts away from the switch cabinet, and that's a problem in itself. Because how do I represent those switch ports that are very high-density at a cabinet in a different area, like a central patching location?

The goal is to really represent the ports in the blade and reflect them in labeling and in a safe way for moves, adds and changes.

This solution we're talking about is really about how to represent those ports. Think of an operator switchboard so that I can manually “jumperize” those ports in a safe way to devices that are out in the data center.

Jon: How does the solution improve reliability and signal integrity at 64G compared to traditional cabling approaches?

Robert: Two ways. Protect moves, adds and changes from the logical organization at the port replicator cassette. That's one way. And the second way would be the low loss of all of the components in the system, including the port replicator, so that we comply with the Fiber Channel standards.

Jon: In what ways does Panduit help customers reduce risk during deployment or upgrades to Gen 7 environments?

Robert: Typically, in a storage area network, like in medical records keeping, for example, there's risk in moves, adds and changes. If you can envision this cross-connect that’s like an operator switchboard. We're taking the risk away from the cabinets where the switches are. That’s a very dense environment. And we're transporting those ports over to a safe area that has the grouping of the ports that mirrors the blade.

But you don't want to make changes in the switch cabinet, because what you can do is disturb adjacent circuits that are live. So, we take that over and minimize the risk by separating the ports in a logical way and identifying the ports in a logical way for those moves, adds and changes.

Jon: Finally, how does Panduit’s end-to-end ecosystem, from cabling to connectivity, create a more consistent SAN experience for customers?

Robert: Well, Panduit makes more than the port replication system that we're talking about today. We offer options that go end-to-end from the Gen 7 director switch, which has SFP double density transceivers, all the way down to a server host bus adapter or solid-state storage and everything in between that defines the channel.

At Panduit, we do the physical optics between the transceivers and also offer cable management solutions. These are high-density solutions, so we do everything from breaking out these cables and managing them, labeling systems, troughing systems, pathways and cabinets. [This is a] full turnkey solution of fiber optics and infrastructure to support storage area networks.

Learn more about Panduit’s Gen 7 SAN Director Connectivity.