Overview - Topspin InfiniBand switch module and InfiniBand host channel adapter card

Content

The Topspin InfiniBand Switch Module for IBM BladeCenter delivers low latency, high bandwidth connectivity (up to 75 Gbps(1) full duplex) between InfiniBand connected internal BladeCenter server blades, additional BladeCenter chassis, stand-alone servers, and external Gateways for connectivity to Ethernet LANs and Fibre Channel SANs.

• Scales-out DataCenters by interconnecting blades and chassis together with InfiniBand as the interconnect.
• Leverages high bandwidth and low latency characteristics of the InfiniBand standard with Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA)
• Enables consolidation of LAN and SAN connectivity for an entire data cluster to a centralized location
• Virtualizes, and shares I/O and storage across an entire BladeCenter or collection of BladeCenters for cost savings and high availability.

For High Performance Compute (HPC) customers, InfiniBand is recognized as an industry standard high performance cluster fabric. The Topspin InfiniBand Switch Module for IBM BladeCenter and the Topspin InfiniBand Host Channel Adapter Expansion Card for IBM BladeCenter together provide a complete low latency, high bandwidth interconnect solution for your scientific, technical, or financial BladeCenter cluster applications. Scaling from a one to five BladeCenters can be done by just interconnecting the InfiniBand Switch Modules. For scaling to even larger clusters, while minimizing switch hops and maximizing bisection bandwidth, external Topspin InfiniBand switches can be used to create larger tree, mesh, or even full bisection bandwidth Clos network topologies.

Enterprise data centers need to address the growing demands for processing power from bandwidth-hungry and latency-sensitive applications. This need is often addressed by "scaling out" with clusters of smaller, less expensive servers or blades as an alternative to the classic "scale-up" model with bigger servers. The scale out model offers economic and flexibility benefits, but historically has been hindered by two major issues:

• Performance of legacy server interconnects
• "I/O sprawl" of adapters, cables, and switch ports required to connect every server directly with its LANs and SANs.

The BladeCenter along with the Topspin IB Switch Module and the Topspin InfiniBand Host Channel Adapter Expansion Card allows enterprise administrators to get the benefits of scale out while reducing the classic hindrances. IBM, using standards-based InfiniBand interconnect technology, delivers a solution that offers low latency and high bandwidth performance. Clustered blades can perform as well as a single monolithic server at a fraction of the cost.

You can centrally manage I/O and storage connectivity for a single BladeCenter, or an entire data center, without touching a cable. The Topspin solution allows one or more external chassis to provide scalable LAN and SAN connectivity for an entire data center. Data Center administrators can:

• Reduce the number of adapters, cables, and switch ports required
• Manage the addition, removal, or allocation of I/O or storage bandwidth centrally
• Adjust I/O connectivity on demand without downtime

With the major obstacles to scale out alleviated, data center administrators gain an elegant and cost effective solution for high-performance computing (HPC), and distributed databases for an on demand computing environment.

• Up to four external 4X (10Gbps(3)) InfiniBand ports
• 14 internal 1X (2.5Gbps) InfiniBand ports
• Up to 75 Gbps of aggregate bandwidth available per switch
• Dual switch configurations provide additional bandwidth, and redundancy

• Dual 2.5 Gbps ports
• Server blade connection to one or two installed InfiniBand Switch Modules
• Through external Gateways, provides Ethernet and Fibre Channel connectivity for each InfiniBand connected server blade

• Provides an ideal clustering solution for
  • High-performance computing (HPC)
  • Scale-out distributed databases
  • On demand computing
• Leverages the low latency, high bandwidth characteristics and the Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) capabilities of the InfiniBand standard
• Scale-out on demand by interconnecting many blades and many BladeCenters with InfiniBand into a high performance data center
• Consolidate, virtualize, and share I/O and storage across an entire BladeCenter or a collection of BladeCenters for cost savings and high availability

Topspin InfiniBand Switch Module for IBM BladeCenter
Marketing part number: 26K6454
Replacement part number

Topspin InfiniBand Host Channel Adapter Expansion Card for IBM BladeCenter
Marketing part number: 26K6457
Replacement part number: 26K6459

IB 3 meter 4x Cable for IBM BladeCenter
Marketing part number: 26R0813
Replacement part number:

IB 3 meter 12x to (3) 4x Cable for IBM BladeCenter
Marketing part number: 26R0816
Replacement part number:

1 Year limited - customer replaceable unit (CRU)