Attachment Single Attachment Station (SAS)
Platform VAX or Alpha, depending on variant
Description
===========
The DEMFA is a high-speed, single attachment station (SAS) FDDI controller.
It allows end nodes that implement the XMI bus standard to connect to a
Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) 100-Mb/s, fiber-optic, token-ring
network through the DECconcentrator 500 unit. The DEMFA can be connected to
any system that supports an XMI backplane and CPU that has a software driver
capable of supporting the device. The adapter consists of three components:
an active bulkhead with optical transceiver, a bulkhead-to-adapter cable,
and an XMI adapter card with memory, logic, control processors, and
interfaces.
Features
========
At the hardware level, the device can operate at 100 Mb/s data
rates. Actual performance is CPU, application, and protocol dependent
Supported by any VAX or Alpha system with an XMI backplane
Uses standards-compliant (ANSI X3T9.5) FDDI technology, ensuring
interoperability within multivendor networks
Supports Compaq's FFDT to enable simultaneous bidirectional 100
Mb/s data communications
Can connect directly to the GIGAswitch/FDDI system to provide an
FFDT path to any other FDDI station or ring
Provides Compaq VAX and Alpha systems with a SAS FDDI connection
to any ANSI-compliant concentrator or FDDI switch using multimode fiber
and modular optical connector
Employs an efficient, single-slot, high-performance card design,
plugging directly into the XMI bus backplane
Uses Compaq-designed chipset for performance and special
implementation of hardware to minimize communications processing on the
host CPU
Enables OpenVMS load balancing and auto-failover to a second
FDDI or Ethernet adapter to ensure network availability for the VAX host
Serves as an OpenVMS cluster interconnect
*Variant* *Description*
DEMFA-AA XMI to FDDI SAS MMF (MIC) adapter for all VAX and ALPHA
applications, except VAX 9000
DEMFA-AB XMI to FDDI SAS MMF (MIC) adapter for VAX 9000 systems
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| |
