At the root of the alliance between IBM Corp and Hewlett-Packard Co on fibre optic interconnection products (CI No 1,869) are high-speed optical link boards originally developed by IBM for use in the AS/400 and RS/6000, and modified to conform to ANSI’s Fibre Channel standard. Faster versions are to be independently developed, manufactured and sold by the two partners. The family of high-speed optical-link boards will support the FC-0 level of the new ANSI Fibre Channel standard and the first to be offered operates at 266Mbps, although Fibre Channel specifies rates that extend beyond 1Gbps. IBM will specify the Compact Disk laser technology for follow-on optical-link boards, and using its packaging and manufacturing technology, will integrate subcomponents developed and made by the two companies to create faster boards for both to make.
