In the Switched Fabric (FC-SW-6) topology, devices are connected through one or more. While this topology has the best of the three FC topologies (the other two are and ), it is the only one requiring switches, which are costly hardware devices. Visibility among devices (called nodes) in a fabric is typically controlled with.
An optical fiber, or optical fibre, is a flexible or plastic that can transmit from one end to the other. Such fibers are widely used in, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at higher (data transfer rates) than electrical cables. Fibers are used instead of metal because signals travel along them with less and are immune to.