Cisco MDS 9220i Multiservice Fabric Switch (Figure 1), the next generation of the highly flexible, industryleading, proven Cisco MDS 9200 Series Multiservice Switches, is an optimized platform for deploying highperformance SAN-extension solutions, distributed intelligent fabric services, and cost-effective multiprotocol connectivity for both open systems and mainframe environments. With a compact form factor and advanced capabilities, the Cisco MDS 9220i is an ideal solution for departmental and remote branch-office SANs as well as in large-scale SANs in conjunction with Cisco MDS 9700 Series Multilayer Directors.
The Cisco MDS 9220i offers up to twelve 32-Gbps Fibre Channel ports, four 1/10-, two 25-, and one 40- Gigabit Ethernet IP storage services ports, in a fixed One-Rack-Unit (1RU) form factor. The Cisco MDS 9220i connects to existing native Fibre Channel networks, protecting current investments in storage networks. The Cisco SAN Extension over IP application package license is enabled as standard on the two fixed 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet IP storage services ports, enabling features such as Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP) and compression on the switch without the need for additional licenses.
Main features and benefits
The Cisco MDS 9220i Multiservice Fabric Switch provides unique multiservice and multiprotocol functions in a compact 1RU form factor:
SAN consolidation with integrated multiprotocol support: The Cisco MDS 9220i is available in a base configuration of four ports of 32-Gbps Fibre Channel for high-performance SAN connectivity and two ports of 1/10-Gigabit Ethernet for FCIP storage services, running at a max speed of 1-Gbps.
SAN switch with 32-Gbps connectivity in 1RU form factor: The Cisco MDS 9220i scales up to 12 ports with speeds up to 32-Gbps Fibre Channel in a fixed configuration switch. The base configuration comes with four ports of 32 Gbps Fibre Channel enabled for high-performance SAN connectivity, and it can be upgraded on site and online to enable an additional eight ports of 32-Gbps Fibre Channel by adding the Cisco MDS 9220i on-demand upgrade license. The upgrade license also enables 10 Gigabit speed on the initial two Ethernet ports, two additional 1/10 Gigabit ports, two 25 Gigabit ports, and one 40 Gigabit port.
Flexible FCIP port speed: in line with recent industry trends, the Cisco MDS 9220i provides flexible connectivity options toward datacenter switches, routers or DWDM systems, including 25G speed. Both the 25G and 40G options can be very valuable for data with a lower level of compressibility, while the 1 and 10G options can well satisfy the needs of small-medium organizations.
IBM Fibre Connection support: Cisco MDS 9220i cost-effectively scales up for IBM Fibre Connection (FICON) mainframe environments.
