Patent ID: 7461245

Claim:
A storage controller for controlling transfer of input/output data to/from a plurality of storage devices in response to input/output requests received from a plurality of host computers, said storage controller comprising: a plurality of first interface circuits, each of which is to be coupled to one of said host computers, for receiving said input/output requests from said host computers; at least one control processor which processes said input/output requests to read data from or write data to said storage devices; a plurality of second interface circuits, each of which is to be coupled to said control processor and each of said storage devices; and a first fibre channel loop for transmitting data between said first interface circuits and said control processor, wherein said plurality of second interface circuits are each coupled to said storage devices via one of a plurality of second fibre channel loops, each of said second fibre channel loops forms a transmission path, between said second interface circuits and said storage devices, different from the transmission path between each of the other second interface circuit and the storage devices.