View Source: GBIC - Waikato Linux Users Group

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[Acronym] for __G__iga__B__it __I__nterface __C__onverters%%%
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Used throughout Cisco's Product range to provide versitility amoungst their Gigabit uplinks.
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Cisco offers a range of Gigabit Interface Converters (GBICs) and Small Form-factor Pluggable (SFP) for Gigabit Ethernet use. These small, modular optical interface transceivers offer a convenient and cost effective solution for the adoption of Gigabit Ethernet in data center, campus, metropolitan area access and ring networks, and storage area networks.

Have a look at [Cisco's GBIC Range|http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/modules/ps872/prod_models_home.html]
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In english:
There are two physical layers for running Gigabit Ethernet, you can run it over Cat5e (which is cheap), or you can run it over fiber (which can be a lot longer, is electrically inert, etc).  However because fiber is so expensive, if you brought a switch with lots of fiber ports and wanted to use cat5e you'll end up shelling out a lot of money you don't need to.  So instead Cisco made the ethernet physical layer a pluggable component called a "GBIC", so you can choose which type of fiber you want to put in any individual port.  This idea was last seen as [AUI] when people were doing exactly the same thing, for the same reasons with 10mbit ethernet, except it was Coax/ThinNet/ThickNet.
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Also Look at [SFP]

2 pages link to GBIC:

Last edited on Tuesday, August 12, 2003 9:24:45 pm by CraigBox

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