The basic fibre channel loop architecture limits the number of devices to 128. As the number of devices on the fibre channel loop increases, the challenge increases to provide scalable performance to all devices as they compete for communication resources. To reduce this resource starvation while increasing array sizes to their maximum, Xyratex has developed a product referred to as SBOD (Switched Bunch of Disks). This product is designed to be a plug and play replacement for existing Fibre Channel JBOD (Just a Bunch of Disks) technology, with much better RAS and performance capabilities. read more »
