Vixel Enhances Fabric Switch Firmware

Vixel Corporation , a provider of storage networking products and technologies, today announced firmware enhancements for its 7000 and 9000 Series fabric switches.

According to the company, available now for the 7000 (firmware release 4.0) and 9000 (firmware release 6.1) Series fabric switches:

— World Wide Name Zoning and Hardware Enforcement

This standard enables interoperable fabric switching by creating zone standards within the 7000 and 9000 that “merge” with the zoning information on other switches. As an extra layer of security, Vixel said the 9000 Series has been upgraded to include hardware enforcement, which restricts traffic if a request comes from a port that is not within the zone sets defined by the World Wide Name Zone.

— Embedded Web Browser

A new Embedded Web Browser configures the switch and adds management functionality through access provision from the browser.

— Speed Link Detection

This new 9000 Series feature aligns the speed at the port level to either a 1 or 2 Gb/s, depending on the environment, and includes a manual option to override the Web browser or SAN management interfaces.

— Broader Interoperability in Multivendor Switching Environments

The company said the two new firmware releases enable broader interoperability with 1 or 2 Gb/s director and department level switches from other vendors.

— Enhanced Initialization Protocol

The 9000 Series fabric switches now include fairness protocols that, according to Vixel, offer solution providers improved flexibility when integrating Vixel switches with existing storage and data networks.