Fibre Channel

Fibre Channel is a serial computer bus intended for connecting high speed storage devices to computers, used primarily in the supercomputer field. The name is not terribly descriptive, as Fibre Channel can run on both twisted-pair wire, as well as fibre optic cables.

Fibre Channel started in 1988 as a way to simplify the HIPPI system currently in use for similar roles. HIPPI used a massive 50-pair cable and gigantic connectors, and had limited cable lengths. Fibre Channel was primarily interested in simplifying the connections and increasing the lengths, as opposed to increasing speeds. It also added support for any number of "upper layer" protocols, including SCSI, ATM and IP.