Extended Fabrics is an optional-licensed product that runs on Compaq StorageWorks Fiber Channel SAN Switches. Extended Fabrics uses Fiber Channel technology to create a fabric interconnected at distances of up to 100 kilometers (km) for the 1 Gigabit Switches and 75 km for the 2 Gigabit Switches running at 1Gbps.
The use of Extended Fabrics can increase the allowable distance between two switches and optimizes the internal buffering algorithm for the SAN Switches. It provides maximum buffering between E Ports connected over an extended distance through buffer reconfiguration. This extended buffering results in line speed performance of close to full Fiber Channel speed for switches interconnected at 100 km, thus providing the highest possible performance for transfers between switches. The Fiber Channel connection extensions can be provided by Extended Distance GBICs, Fiber Channel repeaters, or Wave Division Multiplexing (WDM) devices.