Systems/Enterprise:
SUN AND TOPSPIN WORK ON NEXT-GEN
INFINIBAND SERVERS
InfiniBand infrastructure company Topspin gained its first significant
partner
earlier this month, when it announced that Sun Microsystems would use its
fiber channel and Gigabit Ethernet input/output modules for its next
generation of InfiniBand-based blade servers. Amidst uncertainty over just how
widespread InfiniBand deployment will be, Sun believes it will be one of the
first companies to integrate InfiniBand into its volume server product
lines.
IMPACT ASSESSMENT
The message
Topspin has just begun shipping its InfiniBand-based switching
products that can consolidate InfiniBand, Ethernet and fiber-channel
input/output devices into a single system. Now Sun plans to integrate its
technology into its next generation of blade servers, due out sometime in
2004.
Competitive landscape
IBM is preparing to launch a set of InfiniBand-supporting products for its
Intel-based eServer xSeries line. But for OEMs
looking for similar technology, InfiniCon and InfiniSwitch are the two closest
candidates to Topspin.
The451 assessment
Clustering infrastructure offering high bandwidth and low
latency is an essential foundation for the automated 'utility computing'
models now starting to be talked about. Sun has filled in another of the
technology pieces it needs to get its grandiose N1 datacenter framework
implemented over the next few years.
Context
Sun was one of the early backers of InfiniBand and is one of the
original founders of the InfiniBand Trade Association. (The others are Dell,
HP, IBM, Microsoft and Intel.) Sun has said many times that even if InfiniBand
doesn't take off as a more widespread networking technology, it would still
use it as an internal server backplane in preference to a proprietary link,
such as its current 'Wildcat' Sun Fire Link interconnect, which is more
expensive to develop and evolve. Sun believes InfiniBand is one of the only
cost-effective 10Gbps low-latency interconnect standards available in the
market today. It's certainly true that Gigabit Ethernet is currently too
expensive for large-scale clustering, and has too many problems with
latency.
Toward the end of last year, Sun, IBM and Dell issued a joint statement
reaffirming their commitment to InfiniBand. HP followed up separately with a
lukewarm statement about its planned "pragmatic" adoption. Microsoft and Intel
didn't participate. The first built-in InfiniBand support from Sun is likely
to emerge with its second-generation blade servers, due out sometime in 2004.
But InfiniBand might also play its part in its Sun ONE Web services and N1
datacenter management framework. Sun says it also plans to integrate
InfiniBand into storage virtualization and aggregation products and
controllers, and will eventually replace the proprietary internal
interconnects with InfiniBand.
The deal
The Topspin and Sun deal is described as a "joint technology
development and software licensing agreement." Specifically, Sun will take
Topspin's fiber channel and Gigabit Ethernet I/O modules and embed them within
its next-generation servers. Its aim is to boost application scalability,
performance and resource utilization. And Topspin will help develop support
for the interconnect technology for Sun's Solaris operating system. The result
should be that Sun servers will be more easily integrated with Topspin's host
channel adapters and switches to build high-performance computing systems or
large-scale database clusters.
Strategy
Topspin, founded in April 2000, is currently in the process of
rolling out its first products, the Topspin 360, a 72-port switch that can
consolidate InfiniBand, Ethernet and fiber channel-based input/output devices
through a single system; and a smaller 1U, 12-16-port version that it
introduced on January 13. It offers transparent topology emulation, which
makes InfiniBand ports look like Ethernet or fiber channel to applications
like Oracle. The intelligence resides in the expansion modules for the 360
switch. Although it has started to ship the products through its direct sales
force, Topspin says it also sees the value of having its technology embedded
within other systems' products.
But Topspin also has ambitions beyond the hardware, and has built in a
layer
of software services above its hardware foundation, taking it toward 'utility
computing' functionality such as application scaling, dynamic provisioning and
resource consolidation. Initially, it's focused on getting support for Oracle
9i RAC and IBM's DB2 in place. This software focus is probably what caught
Sun's attention. Sun itself is moving toward a similar model with N1, and
through its acquisition last year of Terraspring.
Competition
InfiniCon and InfiniSwitch are the two closest competitors to
Topspin. InifiniCon hasn't ventured so far up the software stack, and has
focused instead on I/O consolidation. Although InfiniCon appeared to be a
prime candidate for major OEMs looking for embedded technology to expand their
servers, that doesn't appear to have happened so far, aside from international
companies such as Langchao Beijing, China's largest domestic server vendor, or
specialists such as embedded systems maker Themis Computer. InfiniSwitch has
just merged with fabric management software house Lane15, and is moving away
from being a pure InfiniBand play over to a strategy based around multi-fabric
support, which may bring it into closer competition with Topspin.
As for the server vendors, IBM is preparing to launch a set of InfiniBand-
supporting products for its Intel-based eServer xSeries line, including a host
channel adapter that plugs into existing PCI slots, a 4x external InfiniBand
switch (on which IBM has worked with an unidentified third party), and a full
software stack. Like Topspin, IBM believes initial interest will come from
users putting together DB2 and Oracle database clusters. Dell says its next-
generation, PowerEdge modular blades will be "InfiniBand ready."
All the indicators are that InfiniBand is not going to thrive as a general-
purpose networking transport, as a peer to the established Ethernet or fiber
channel. But it is likely to be used for server-to-server interconnects,
linking multinode systems such as blade servers, symmetrical multiprocessors
or high-node clusters. This sort of technology will be driven by the major
server vendors, and so the startups with technology to contribute need to
align themselves with the big systems vendors.
Courtesy www.the451.com
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