What is a GBIC?
GBIC stands for Gigabit Interface Converter. It is a removable Fibre Channel transceiver unit that plugs into a socket on a Fibre Channel device. Fibre Channel cables are then plugged into the GBIC. They provide a simple method to switch between the copper signals on the circuit boards of the Fibre Channel devices to an optical signal used to interconnect devices. GBICs are universal in that they can be swapped on many vendors’ Fibre Channel devices. Optical GBICs come with two types of lasers, short wave (good for 500 meters) or long wave (good for 10 km). Copper GBICs are also available. They are nothing more than a signal pass through device.
