Fibre Channel musings...

I was just reading through the product quick spec's for the long since
retired RA4000 and RA4100 products.

It seems that aisde from the RA4000 using WUS3 and older drives, and the
RA4100 using U2 and U3 drives, there is very little difference physical
difference. Ironically, the very same array controller is used in both. The
RA4000 officially support a max drive size of 36G, while the RA4100 is
reported to support the 72G drives. If the only physical difference is the
drive backpland the the way the slots are layed out for the different trays,
could one reasonably assume that they could take any SCA 72G drive, shoehorn
that into a WUS3 tray, and shove it into the RA4000 and it will work?

I also noticed that the RA4000's are suggested to only be used with HUBs,
while the RA4100 is suggested with switches. Again, since the controllers
are the same, why the difference in the recommendations? Was the RA4100
supposed to be a more capable, more robust solution component? I dont know,
but it sounds a little fishy to me. Typical marketing that says, "oh, if you
want to do THAT, then you need the new product line..." knowing full well
that the existing product line was up to scratch for the task.

.... sigh

If anyone can join in this discussion, i think it could be interesting.

Thanks,

- LC