ESCON Channels
The z10 BC supports up to 480 ESCON channels. The
high density ESCON feature has 16 ports, 15 of which
can be activated for customer use. One port is always
reserved as a spare which is activated in the event of a
failure of one of the other ports. For high availability the
initial order of ESCON features will deliver two 16-port
ESCON features and the active ports will be distributed
across those features.
Fibre Channel Connectivity
The on demand operating environment requires fast data
access, continuous data availability, and improved fl ex-
ibility, all with a lower cost of ownership. The four port
FICON Express4 and FICON Express2 features available
on the z9 BC continue to be supported on the System
z10 BC.
Choose the FICON Express4 features that best meet your
business requirements
To meet the demands of your Storage Area Network (SAN),
provide granularity, facilitate redundant paths, and satisfy
your infrastructure requirements, there are fi ve features
from which to choose.
Feature FC # Infrastructure Ports per
Feature
FICON Express4 10KM LX 3321
Single mode fi ber
4
FICON Express4 4KM LX 3324
Single mode fi ber
4
FICON Express4-2C 4KM LX 3323
Single mode fi ber
2
FICON Express4 SX 3322 Multimode fi ber 4
FICON Express4-2C SX 3318 Multimode fi ber 2
Choose the features that best meet your granularity, fi ber
optic cabling, and unrepeated distance requirements.
FICON Express4 Channels
The z10 BC supports up to 128 FICON Express4 chan-
nels, each one operating at 1, 2 or 4 Gb/sec auto-negoti-
ated. The FICON Express4 features are available in long
wavelength (LX) and short wavelength (SX). For customers
exploiting LX, there are two options available for unre-
peated distances of up to 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) or up to
10 kilometers (6.2 miles). Both LX features use 9 micron
single mode fi ber optic cables. The SX feature uses 50
or 62.5 micron multimode fi ber optic cables. Each FICON
Express4 feature has four independent channels (ports)
and can be confi gured to carry native FICON traffi c or
Fibre Channel (SCSI) traffi c. LX and SX cannot be inter-
mixed on a single feature. The receiving devices must cor-
respond to the appropriate LX or SX feature. The maximum
number of FICON Express4 features is 32 using four I/O
drawers.
Exclusive to the z10 BC and z9 BC is the availability of
a, lower cost FICON Express4 2-port feature, the FICON
Express4-2C 4KM LX and FICON Express4-2C SC. These
features support two FICON 4 Gbps LX and SX chan-
nels respectively. The FICON Express4-2-port cards are
designed to operate like the 4 port card but with the fl ex-
ibility of having fewer ports per card.
FICON Express2 Channels
The z10 BC supports carrying forward FICON Express2
channels, each one operating at 1 or 2 Gb/sec auto-
negotiated. The FICON Express2 features are available
in long wavelength (LX) using 9 micron single mode fi ber
optic cables and short wavelength (SX) using 50 and
62.5 micron multimode fi ber optic cables. Each FICON
Express2 feature has four independent channels (ports)
and each can be confi gured to carry native FICON traffi c
or Fibre Channel (SCSI) traffi c. LX and SX cannot be inter-
mixed on a single feature. The maximum number of FICON
Express2 features is 20, using four I/O drawers.
z10 BC Channels and I/O Connectivity
19