The customer has an existing fabric switches installed from one manufacturer. They have decided to add a redundant fabric using switches from a different manufacturer. Interoperability is their main c

Switch interoperability modes typically relate to connecting different generations or brands of switches within a single fabric or between fabrics, which is less comprehensive than the overarching role of a virtualization engine for a fully redundant setup.

HBA firmware/driver code is essential for host connectivity, but it is a host-side concern rather than a fundamental factor in the interoperability between different vendors' SAN fabrics themselves.

Zone naming convention is a management best practice for consistency and clarity, but it does not technically influence the ability of different manufacturers' Fibre Channel switches to interoperate or provide redundant storage access.

A virtualization engine, such as a SAN Volume Controller or storage virtualization appliance, acts as an abstraction layer for storage. Its ability to integrate and manage storage resources seamlessly across heterogeneous Fibre Channel fabrics from different manufacturers is crucial for maintaining a unified and consistent view of storage and ensuring data access across the redundant fabric.