Intelligent network services : VSAN technology, ACLs for hardware-based intelligent frame  processing, and fabricwide QoS enable migration from SAN islands to enterprise wide storage networks. 

Fibre Channel Redirect (FC-Redirect): FC-Redirect infrastructure provides the capability to redirect a  flow to a specific service engine in the fabric to provide intelligent services such as IBM Data Mobility Manager and I/O Accelerator. 

Integrated hardware-based VSANs and IVR: VSANs are integrated into port-level hardware so that  any port in a system or fabric can be assigned to any VSAN. The IVR provides line-rate routing between any ports in a system or fabric without the need for external routing appliances. 

Intelligent storage services : The IBM Storage Networking c-type family directors support intelligent  service capabilities on other IBM Storage Networking c-type family switches to provide services, such as acceleration of storage applications for data replication and backup. 

Smart Zoning: When the Smart Zoning feature is enabled, IBM Storage Networking c-type family  fabrics provision the hardware ACL entries, specified by the zone set, more efficiently. This feature helps prevent superfluous entries that may allow servers (initiators) to talk to other servers or allow storage devices (targets) to talk to other storage devices. This feature makes feasible larger zones with multiple initiators and multiple targets without excessive consumption of hardware resources. 

Smart Zones can correspond to applications, application clusters, hypervisor clusters, and other data center entities, saving the time that administrators previously spent creating many small zones and enabling automation of zoning tasks. 

Virtual machine transparency : IBM Storage Networking c-type family provides deterministic hardware  performance and a comprehensive feature set that allows virtual machines to have the same SAN attributes as a physical server. On a per-virtual machine basis, NX-OS software offers VSANs, QoS policies, access control, performance monitoring, and data protection to promote the scalability and mobility of virtual machines. DCNM enables rapid troubleshooting in mission-critical virtualized environments by providing end-to-end visibility from the virtual machine to storage with resource allocation, performance measurements, and predictions available on a per-virtual machine basis. 

Comprehensive security : IBM Storage Networking c-type family devices support services including  VSANs, hardware-enforced zoning, ACLs, per-VSAN RBAC, and TrustSec Fibre Channel link encryption. The comprehensive security framework consists of RADIUS and TACACS+, FC-SP, SFTP, SSH Protocol, and SNMPv3. TrustSec Fibre Channel link encryption delivers transparent, hardware-based 32-Gbps line-rate AES 128-bit encryption of Fibre Channel data on 32-Gbps Fibre Channel switching modules. 

Resilient high-performance ISLs: IBM Storage Networking c-type family 48-port 32-Gbps Fibre  Channel switching modules support high-performance ISLs consisting of 32-Gbps secure Fibre Channel. Fibre Channel switching modules also support port-channel technology for additional scalability and resilience. Administrators can group up to 16 links spanning any port on any module in a chassis into a logical link. 

Administrators can also allocate up to 8191 buffer-to-buffer credits to a single Fibre Channel port, providing industry-leading extension of storage networks to up to 4000 kilometers at 4 Gbps, 2000 kilometers at 8 Gbps, 1000 kilometers at 16 Gbps, and 500 kilometers at 32 Gbps, while maintaining full link utilization. IBM Storage Networking c-type family switch architecture helps ensure that frames are never reordered within a switch, leading to optimal application performance because end devices never have to use resources to reorder the frames. 

Sophisticated diagnostics : IBM Storage Networking c-type family 48-Port 32-Gbps Fibre Channel  Switching Module provides intelligent diagnostics, protocol decoding, E-port diagnostics, and network analysis tools along with an integrated Call Home capability for greater reliability, faster problem resolution, and reduced service costs. 

Investment protection: The 48-Port 32-Gbps Fibre Channel Switching Module can easily be inserted  into existing IBM Storage Networking c-type family directors without any impact on operations. 

