Prizm From Optica Technologies, Inc.

Reduced Risk, Complexity, and Costs for ESCON to FICON Migration

The promises of increased I/O capacity, greater speed, and substantially improved performance make FICON attractive for many companies. However, the significant investment required to migrate to FICON must be justified by a compelling Return on Investment (ROI). To maximize ROI, most users will want to integrate legacy peripherals, which have ESCON connectivity. The Prizm FICON to ESCON Converter Appliance from Opitca Technologies allows the connection of ESCON peripherals to FICON channels. This connectivity reduces costs associated with ESCON directors and protects investments in existing ESCON devices. Additionally, Prizm enables a phased progression toward a single FICON mainframe infrastructure, which IT managers desire.

Prior to the introduction of Prizm, the only means to connect ESCON peripherals to FICON channels was the FICON bridge card operating in an ESCON Model 5 director. The bridge card, whose end of life took effect in December 2004, is inefficient in comparison, requiring a dedicated converted FICON channel (CHIPID type FCV). In contrast, Prizm accepts a native FICON channel (CHIPID type FC) directly from the mainframe via a FICON director and converts the protocol for connectivity to multiple outbound ESCON channels. This native connectivity allows users to intermix ESCON and FICON peripherals on the same FICON channel, thus realizing greater I/O efficiency.

Virtually all IT managers agree that consolidating multiple infrastructure types to a single investment-protected environment is desirable. Prizm facilitates this goal by providing a means to consolidate or eliminate ESCON director ports and to migrate to a uniform, single-mode cable plant, which is IBM’s stated direction for data center connectivity. Furthermore, substantial cost savings are realized with the elimination of ESCON director footprint and maintenance costs.

Remote ESCON Devices

Because of the inherent distance capabilities of the FICON protocol, in certain instances within a metro area, Prizm will eliminate the need for high-cost ESCON channel extenders. Furthermore, Prizm supports cascaded director configurations, thereby providing greater flexibility for remote ESCON device connectivity.

Details, Features, & Configurations

Prizm attaches legacy ESCON devices to native FICON channels from z800, z890, z900, z990, and G5/G6 IBM mainframes. It is modular in nature (similar to directors) with the following available configurations (FICON x ESCON): 1×4 and 2×8. The Prizm Configuration Data Set (PCDS) utility provides logical path binding, mapping user-defined FICON logical paths to the appropriate ESCON logical paths.

Prizm can be managed locally or remotely via Web interface or Telnet, and will interface to higher-level management tools via SNMP. The converter also auto-generates e-mail notifications for fault conditions.

Prizm supports current FICON data rates (1 and 2GB) and distances. Because Prizm uses an industry-standard Host Bus Adapter (HBA), it will support future enhancements to FICON, such as higher data rates and longer supported distances.