Switch-based storage services
US7185062B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 18, 2002 |
| Grant date | Feb 27, 2007 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 22, 2023 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L67/1097
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A storage switch in accordance with an embodiment of the invention is a highly scalable switch that allows the creation of a SAN that is easy to deploy and that can be centrally managed. Moreover, such a storage switch also allows the deployment of a global infrastructure, allowing the resources of the SAN, such as storage devices, to essentially be positioned anywhere on the globe. Further, such a storage switch allows a multi-protocol SAN, e.g., one that includes both iSCSI or Fibre Channel, and processes data packets at “wire speed.” To further enable wire-speed processing, a switch in accordance with the invention has “intelligence” distributed to each of its linecards, through which it classifies packets into data and control packets, it performs virtualization functions, and it performs protocol translation functions. A switch in accordance with the invention further performs serverless storage services such as mirroring, snapshot, and replication.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.