Systems/Enterprise:
InfiniCon DEMONSTRATES FIRST 16-NODE, FABRIC
GRID CLUSTER
InfiniCon Systems, the premier provider of shared
I/O and switching
solutions
for next-generation server networks, today announced that its
award-winning
InfinIO? Architecture is being featured in three, industry-first
demonstrations at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF), February 18-21 in San
Jose.
Each demonstration showcases how the InfinIO 7000 Shared I/O and
Clustering
System -- leveraging its low-latency, 10Gbps InfiniBand switched
fabric and
integrated I/O gateways -- streamlines server deployments and
supports a
modular, more flexible computing model for the enterprise data
center.
Highlights of the live demonstrations at IDF include:
As part of Intel's high performance computing (HPC) demonstrations
within
the InfiniBand Trade Association community, InfiniCon showcased the first 16-
node cluster in which servers share I/O connectivity
for
seamless access to both Fibre Channel storage and Ethernet networks.
Using a
single "fat pipe" or 10Gbps link from each server, the number of
interfaces
required is reduced by 66%. The servers featured include Appro
Internationalâ?Ts new server blade cluster, the HyperBlade B221X, running
Intel Xeon Processors.
Included in Intel InfiniBand interoperability
demonstration, the
InfinIO
7000 will provide the interconnect fabric for an
MPI-based grid cluster featuring
Intel's Itanium, TIGER 4 server platforms.
InfiniCon is the first InfiniBand
systems vendor to support Intel's
next-generation, Itanium 2 platforms.
In collaboration with both IBM
and Intel, InfiniCon will enable a
10Gbps-based DB2 cluster implementation,
running on Itanium processor based
systems.
The InfinIO 7000
configurations at IDF will also support Oracle9i database
applications running
over InfiniBand links, demonstrating the tenfold boost
in bandwidth attainable
when commercial database applications -- scaled on
commodity servers -- are
enabled by an InfiniBand fabric. InfinIO shared I/O
technology interconnects
the database clusters transparently to Fibre Channel
storage and Ethernet
clients.
The Foundation For Next-Generation Data Centers
The
InfinIO 7000 is the first external I/O system to leverage the InfiniBand
architecture and deliver standards-based, 10Gb networking to the server and
storage arena, while allowing seamless integration with existing Fibre
Channel
and Ethernet networks. Its combination of low-latency,
server-to-server
switching and shared I/O functionality provide the robust
infrastructure
required to enable the shift in enterprise data centers to
fabric, grid, and
cluster-based computing. InfinIO's technology empowers
data
centers to use
commodity servers in ways once reserved exclusively for
mainframes. It allows
new server capacity to be deployed in hours versus
days, and can provision an
existing server network in minutes versus hours --
all while slashing the cost
of providing connectivity to these servers by an
average of over 40%.
"Today's key datacenter challenge is how to do more, with less," stated
Todd
Matters, chief technology officer for InfiniCon Systems. "64-bit systems and
10Gbps links are powerful key technologies, but the new paradigm of external,
shared I/O is the critical component needed to truly enable tomorrowâ?Ts
computing-on-demand approaches to exploit the power of these technology
advances."
"One of the keys to improving resource utilization and enhancing
application
performance in data center networking is to think about I/O in new
ways,"
noted Jim Pappas, director of initiative marketing for Intel's
Enterprise
Platform Group. "InfiniBand architecture, combined with advances
like shared
I/O and clustering technology, supports an evolutionary model in
which all
application I/O needs can be met through one fat pipe. This
approach
delivers the low-latency and superior bandwidth needed for
accelerating HPC
and commercial applications."
In addition to
demonstrating its InfinIO 7000 Architecture at IDF,
InfiniCon has been
selected to present as part of an educational tract titled
Enterprise I/O:
Architecture and Design. CTO Todd Matters will deliver a
20-minute
presentation to conference attendees that illustrates how a
high-performance
infrastructure supports independent scaling of data center
components and
creates higher ROI on technology investments.
About InfiniCon
Systems
With its award-winning InfinIO? Architecture -- the first
systems solution
based on InfiniBand to deliver affordable 10Gbps networking
to commodity
servers while integrating seamlessly with existing Fibre Channel
and Ethernet
networks -- InfiniCon Systems provides the high-performance,
low-latency
infrastructure required to enable next-generation data
centers.
Leveraging the integrated switching and shared I/O
capabilities of the
InfinIO platform, IT organizations can cluster server
resources together to
create larger, more powerful computing environments;
provision resources to
match business demands; and slash operational costs for
server deployments
through greatly simplified connectivity to distributed
storage and networking
applications.
InfiniCon, headquartered in King
of Prussia, Pennsylvania, is a member of the
InfiniBand Trade Association, the
Storage Network Industry Association, the
Direct Access File System (DAFS)
Collaborative, and the Server Blade Trade
Association.
http://www.infinicon.com
|
