FICON 201

FICON (Fibre Channel Connection) is an upper-level protocol supported by mainframe servers and attached enterprise-class storage controllers that utilize Fibre Channel as the underlying transport. The FCIA FICON 101 webcast described some of the key characteristics of the mainframe and how FICON satisfies the demands placed on mainframes for reliable and efficient access to data. FCIA experts gave a brief introduction into the layers of architecture (system/device and link) that the FICON protocol bridges. Using the FICON 101 session as a springboard, our experts dive deeper into the architectural flow of FICON and how it leverages Fibre Channel to be an optimal mainframe transport, discussing: Brief review of FICON 101 concepts How FICON (FC-SB-x) maps onto the Fibre Channel FC-2 layer The evolution of the FICON protocol optimizations How FICON adapts to new technologies Presented by: Patty Driever – IBM Howard Johnson – Broadcom Joe Kimpler – ATTO Technologies