Fiber Channel Network

The FC card and switch are used for storage devices. It uses a non-ethernet protocol with the same name.
Typical use in apple environments are xserve raids.

On various operating system platforms including Apple Mac OS X, Fibre Channel Storage Area Network (SAN) connects hosts to storage devices, and does not connect hosts to other hosts for communications. Host to Xsan or SAN storage to host, yes. But typically not host to host.

Typical QLogic gear is Fibre Channel SAN; it is SAN gear.

Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) is an available and oft-appropriate host-to-host connection here, and GbE can also be used for host to low-end network-attached storage (NAS) connections.

Apple does not appear to directly offer a fiber-optic network "backbone network" connection nor 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE), though you might find one aftermarket if you need more than switched GbE can provide.

Somewhat more common in the recent high-end is FCIP; Fibre Channel over IP. Supplementing FC with GbE and 10GbE and backbone-speed networks seems to be the preferred path, rather than the reverse of implementing IP over FC.

Qlogic makes switches for the fibre channel protocol. They do not make switches for the ethernet protocol (as far as I know).

This fibrechannel protocol can go over different media, f.i. fiber channel cables and copper cables.

Connecting an ethernet(protocol) device with a fibre channel (protocol) device will not work. The cables will fit, but that's it.