Overview - ISO/IEC 14165-116:2005 (10 Gigabit Fibre Channel / 10GFC)
ISO/IEC 14165-116:2005 defines the signaling and physical-layer requirements for 10 Gigabit Fibre Channel (commonly called 10GFC). The standard specifies how Fibre Channel can transport Upper Level Protocols (ULPs) - such as SCSI, IP, IPI, HIPPI, and IEEE/802.2 - at data rates in excess of 10 Gbit/s. Contents include FC layer descriptions (FC‑0 through FC‑3/FC‑1), optical PMD variants, connector and cable plant specifications, interface translations (XGMII/XAUI), and measurement, jitter and safety criteria.
Keywords: ISO/IEC 14165-116:2005, 10 Gigabit Fibre Channel, 10GFC, Fibre Channel standard, XGMII, PMD, optical interface, SAN.
Key topics and technical requirements
- Physical Media Dependent (PMD) specifications - Multiple PMD types are detailed, including:
- 850 nm Parallel (4-lane) PMD (type 1200‑MX‑SN4P‑I)
- 850 nm Serial PMD (type 1200‑MX‑SN‑I)
- 850 nm CWDM (four-wavelength) PMD (type 1200‑MX‑SN4‑I)
- 1310 nm Serial and CWDM PMDs (e.g., 1200‑SM‑LL‑L, 1200‑X‑LC4‑L)
- Optical interface and transceiver requirements - transmitter/receiver optical specs, PMD-to-MDI interfaces, optical measurement requirements, eye-safety and environmental limits.
- Connector and receptacle standards - optical plug/receptacle dimensions and interoperability guidance for multimode and single‑mode cable plants.
- Cable plant and fiber characteristics - cable models, return loss, connector and splice behavior for reliable 10G operation.
- Signaling and interface mapping - translation between FC‑1 ordered sets and MAC/PHY interfaces (XGMII, XAUI), byte-lane ordering and control-character translation.
- Link management and error handling - link fault signaling, primitive sequence qualification, FC_Port state machine behavior, inter-frame gap rules, and 10GFC error character semantics.
- Jitter, measurement and test requirements - procedures and limits for ensuring signal integrity at 10 Gbit/s.
Practical applications
- Building and validating 10G Fibre Channel SANs in data centers
- Designing and certifying optical transceivers / PMDs and fiber-optic modules for 10GFC
- Specifying connector and cable plant for high‑speed storage networks
- Implementing firmware/ASIC logic for FC‑1/FC‑2 layers and XGMII/XAUI translations
- Test labs and QA teams performing compliance and interoperability testing
Who should use this standard
- Storage/network architects and system integrators
- Fibre Channel equipment and optical transceiver manufacturers
- Hardware/firmware engineers implementing FC link layers
- Test houses and compliance laboratories
- Data center operations teams planning 10G SAN deployments
Related standards
- Other parts of the ISO/IEC 14165 (Fibre Channel) family and FC layer documents (FC‑0 through FC‑4) - see the broader Fibre Channel specifications for protocol and upper-level guidance.