Gen 5 Fibre Channel


Gen 5 Fibre Channel is the marketing name for purpose-built, data center network infrastructure for storage that provides reliability, scalability and up to 16 Gbit/s performance adopted by Brocade, Emulex, and QLogic. The name was created to move away from speed-based naming to technology generation-based naming. Gen 5 Fibre Channel is based on the 5th generation of .

Brocade Gen 5 Fibre Channel

Brocade formally introduced the term "Gen 5 Fibre Channel" in a press release announcing Brocade Fabric Vision Technology. Brocade has a broad range of Gen 5 Fibre Channel platforms spanning from director-class switches, to fixed-port switches, to embedded switches, and adapters.
Brocade platforms with Gen 5 Fibre Channel are positioned for high-density server virtualization, cloud architectures, and next generation flash and SSD storage.

Emulex Gen 5 Fibre Channel

Emulex first introduced Gen 5 Fibre Channel in a press release announcing ecosystem and partner adoption of Gen 5 Fibre Channel HBAs for flash storage and SAN appliances. In conjunction, the Emulex LightPulse LPe1600B HBAs were re-positioned as "The PCI Express 3.0 LPe16000B Gen 5 Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapters"

QLogic Gen 5 Fibre Channel

QLogic first introduced Gen 5 Fibre Channel in during the Q1 2013 earnings call on July 25, 2013. In conjunction, the QLogic 2600 Series HBAs were repositioned as "2600 Series 16Gb Gen 5 Fibre Channel Adapters".

Cisco Gen 5 Fibre Channel

Cisco has not adopted the Gen 5 Fibre Channel branding.

Gen 5 Fibre Channel Controversy

There have been heated debates within the industry about the usage of Gen 5 Fibre Channel as the marketing name for 16 Gbit/s Fibre Channel. After Emulex launched their rebranded HBAs with the Gen 5 Fibre Channel branding, the Register's Chris Mellor captured this debate in an article about the controversy. Since the article was posted, QLogic began using the Gen 5 Fibre Channel name as well.