SC98 - HP and Seagate plan to produce 4 Gbit/s fibre channel networking products

Palo Alto, 09 November 98 Hewlett-Packard Company and Seagate Technology plan to deliver products based on 2 Gbit/sec Fibre Channel technology, with a roadmap leading to 4 Gbit and higher. At Supercomputing '98 Hewlett-Packard Company also showcased its 64-bit PA-8500 processor.

The maximum bandwidth potential of a 2Gbit link is 800Mbit when its full duplex capability is used in combination with dual-port Fibre Channel disk drives. This increased bandwidth is needed to keep pace with the increasing data rates of today's high-performance disk drives, such as those in Seagate's 10,000-rpm Cheetah family. Multigigabit Fibre Channel products are expected to begin emerging in 2000.

HP also conducted demonstrations at SC '98 highlighting the 64-bit PA-8500 processor. HP featured a new family of immersive-visualization applications that can enable project teams to immerse themselves in their data to optimize product development and scientific visualization. This allows design teams to walk through a life-size virtual vehicle, airplane or building, or to walk through a giant-sized molecule.

HP demonstrated the possibilities in mechanical and engineering design and analysis for automotive and aerospace applications, and scientific-research simulations for modeling of large problem sets such as those in weather and space applications.

Sandra Wermer