光纤通道是一种高速串行接口，使用光或电连接（即物理层），数据速率目前高达2 Gbits/s，增长路径为10 Gbits/s，并为上层协议（ULP）提供通用数据传输工具，如智能外围接口（IPI）和小型计算机系统接口（SCSI）命令集，高性能并行接口（HIPPI）数据帧、IP（互联网协议）、ANSI/IEEE 802.2等。光纤通道支持的拓扑包括点对点、交换结构和仲裁环路。ISO/IEC 14165的这一部分定义了光纤通道域内的上层协议，该协议旨在允许节点之间高效的对等或客户机-服务器消息传递，并符合虚拟接口（VI）体系结构。 希望实现连接到FC-VI的设备的供应商可以遵循本标准和其他规范性参考标准的要求来制造符合FC-VI的设备。

Fibre Channel is a high speed serial interface using either optical or electrical connections (i.e., the physical layer) at data rates currently up to 2 Gbits/s with a growth path to 10 Gbits/s, and provides a general data transport vehicle for Upper Level Protocols (ULPs) such as Intelligent Peripheral Interface (IPI) and Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) command sets, the High-Performance Parallel Interface (HIPPI) data framing, IP (Internet Protocol), ANSI/IEEE 802.2, and others. The topologies supported by Fibre Channel include point-to-point, switched fabric, and arbitrated loop. This part of ISO/IEC 14165 defines an upper-layer protocol within the domain of Fibre Channel, that is designed to permit efficient peer-to-peer or client-server messaging between nodes, and to comply with the Virtual Interface (VI) Architecture. Vendors that wish to implement devices that connect to FC-VI may follow the requirements of this and other normatively referenced standards to manufacture an FC-VI compliant device.