3.1. Current Mass Storage Architectures
Current data transfer protocols (such as IPI, HIPPI, and SCSI) have problems that limit their effectiveness in mass storage. The limitations, illustrated in Figure 3-1, are:
Figure 3-1. Current Limitations
Limited speed
Limited distance between devices
Limited number of devices supported
For example, the Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) is restricted to:
the bus being no longer than 25 meters
32 SCSI devices per bus
a double cable system
In today’s modern computer system environments, these restrictions are both very limiting to design and confining in space—and it gets worse. The two-byte wide SCSI ...
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