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18 Chapter 2
Subsystem Architecture and Components
2.2.7 Channels
The Lightning 9900™ subsystem supports all-mainframe, multiplatform, and all-open system
operations and offers the following two types of host channel connections:
Fiber Connection (FICON™). The 9960 subsystem supports up to 16 FICON™-channel
ports, and the 9910 supports up to 12 FICON™ ports. The FICON™ ports are capable of
data transfer speeds of 100 MB/sec (1 Gbps). The 9900 FICON™-channel cards are
available with four ports per CHIP pair. The 9900 supports shortwave and longwave non-
OFC (non-open FICON™ control) optical interface and multimode optical cables as well as
high-availability (HA) FICON™-channel configurations using hubs and switches. When
configured with shortwave FICON™ cards, the 9900 subsystem can be located up to 500
meters (2750 feet) from the host(s). When configured with longwave FICON™ cards, the
9900 subsystem can be located up to ten kilometers from the host(s).
Extended Serial Adapter™ (ExSA™). The 9960 subsystem supports a maximum of 32
ExSA™ serial channel interfaces (compatible with ESCON
®
protocol), and the 9910
supports a maximum of 24 ExSA™ interfaces. The 9900 ExSA™ channel interface cards
provide data transfer speeds of up to 17 MB/sec and are available in four or eight ports
per CHIP pair. Each ExSA™ channel can be connected to a single processor or logical
partition (LPAR) or to serial channel directors. Shared serial channels can be used for
dynamic path switching. The 9900 subsystem also supports the ExSA™ Extended Distance
Feature (XDF).
Fibre-Channel. The 9960 subsystem supports up to 32 fibre-channel ports, and the 9910
supports up to 24 fibre ports. The fibre ports are capable of data transfer speeds of 100
or 200 MB/sec (1 or 2 Gbps). The 9900 fibre-channel cards are available in either four or
eight ports per CHIP pair. The 9900 supports shortwave and longwave non-OFC (non-open
fibre control) optical interface and multimode optical cables as well as high-availability
(HA) fibre-channel configurations using hubs and switches. When configured with
shortwave fibre cards, the 9900 subsystem can be located up to 500 meters (2750 feet)
from the open-system host(s). When configured with longwave fibre cards, the 9900
subsystem can be located up to ten kilometers from the open-system host(s).