The Fibre Channel Industry Association (FCIA) is a mutual benefit non-profit international organization of manufacturers, system integrators, developers, vendors, industry professionals and end users. The FCIA is committed to delivering a broad base of Fibre Channel infrastructure technology to support a wide array of applications within the mass storage and IT-based arenas. FCIA working groups and committees focus on specific aspects of the technology, targeting both vertical and horizontal markets including data storage, video, networking and storage area networking (SAN) management.
http://www.fibrechannel.org/OVERVIEW/topology.html
Storage Area Networking is a term used to describe one of the most popular uses of Fibre Channel. While the benefits of SAN have been long apparent, it was only with the advent of Fibre Channel that massive adoption of open SAN topology became feasible.
Storage networking involves amassing large volumes of data and distributing it. The actual network that evolves from storage networking is known as a Storage Area Network (SAN). Preeminent storage networks are based on Fibre Channel technology and are known as Fibre Channel Storage Area Networks or Fibre Channel SANs. In this publication, all SANs are based on Fibre Channel technology.