GATEWAY DEVICE TO CONNECT NATIVE FIBRE CHANNEL PORTS TO PURE FIBRE CHANNEL OVER ETHERNET STORAGE AREA NETWORKS

A gateway device for use between a Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) network and a Fibre Channel (FC) storage area network (SAN) device includes a controller, at least one first native Fibre Channel F_Port in operable communication with the controller and configured to interface with a native Fibre Channel N_Port of the FC SAN device, and at least one first virtual N_Port (VN_Port) linked to the at least one first native Fibre Channel F_Port and in operable communication with the controller; the controller being configured to translate an FC FDISC received by the at least one first native Fibre Channel F_Port into an FIP NPIV FDISC and to send the FIP NPIV FDISC on the at least one first virtual N_Port (VN_Port) to establish another virtual link.