The VSC7148 contains all the functions needed to implement an entire daisy-chainable 1.0625 Gb/s FC-AL JBOD Loop for storage systems containing up to sixteen disk drives. This device is typically used in distributing Fibre Channel signals to an array of disk drives in managed and un-managed arrays. The use of an I2C Interface allows access to status information and control of configuration through an easily-implemented, industry-standard, protocol.