Storage over Ethernet/IP

[Jon William Toigo]

I am seeking a few points of clarification:   1.  Fibre Channel folks have attempted to explain to me why TCP/IP could NEVER be a viable interconnect for block level storage operations.  They claim:   a.  TCP is too CPU intensive and creates too much latency for storage I/O operations.   b.  The IP stack is too top heavy and processing packet headers is too slow to support storage I/O operations.   c.  The maximum throughput of a GE TCP/IP connection is 768 Mps, which is too slow to support storage I/O operations.   Is any of this true?   2.  Adaptec has posited a replacement for TCP called STP for use as a transport for storage.  Does anyone know anything about this?   3.  Current discussions of the SCSI over IP protocol seem to ignore the issue of TCP or any other transport protocol.  Does anyone know definitively what transport is being suggested by the IBM/Cisco crowd?   4.  Another storage company is looking at Reliable UDP as a substitute for TCP in storage data transfers.  Where can I learn more about this protocol, which I am told was introduced many years ago by Cisco?   Thanks in advance for your assistance.   Jon William Toigo Independent Consultant and Author [EMAIL PROTECTED]