Benchmarks released by Mellanox, Microsoft, and Fusion-io show Mellanox’s RDMA technology for InfiniBand, paired with Fusion-io ioDrive and Windows Server 2012, increases application performance by more than 5X compared to 10GbE solutions. This announcement comes as Mellanox also expands its FDR 56Gb/s InfiniBand interconnect solutions with new 18-port, 108-port, 216-port, and 324-port non-blocking fixed and modular switches.
Benchmarks released by Mellanox, Microsoft, and Fusion-io show Mellanox’s RDMA technology for InfiniBand, paired with Fusion-io ioDrive and Windows Server 2012, increases application performance by more than 5X compared to 10GbE solutions. This announcement comes as Mellanox also expands its FDR 56Gb/s InfiniBand interconnect solutions with new 18-port, 108-port, 216-port, and 324-port non-blocking fixed and modular switches.
The increased performance is possible because Mellanox’s RDMA interconnect technology takes advantage of the new Microsoft SMB Direct protocol implemented in Windows Server 2012 Beta.With RDMA over Converged Enternet, virtualized server infrastructure can utilize shared JBOD storage through the use of RDMA-enabled network interface cards (RNICs). Mellanox’s RDMA-based interconnect technologies include the company’s FDR 56Gb/s InfiniBand and 40GbE with RoCE (RDMA over Converged Ethernet) interconnect products.
Mallanox’s new switches are part of the Mellanox SX6000 FDR 56Gb/s InfiniBand switch family which also includes the SX6025 and SX6036 36-port fixed switches and the SX6536 648-port modular switch. Each offer seamless fabric management capabilities and Mellanox’s 5th generation SwitchX InfiniBand technology designed for building small to medium size clusters or for use as a core switch in large clusters.
SX6018, SX6506, SX6512 and SX6518 Key Features
- SX6018: 18 FDR 56Gb/s InfiniBand QSFP ports in a 1U switch. 2.0Tb/s aggregate switching capacity
- SX6506: 108 FDR 56Gb/s InfiniBand QSFP ports in a 6U switch. 12.1Tb/s aggregate switching capacity
- SX6512: 216 FDR 56Gb/s InfiniBand QSFP ports in a 9U switch. 24.2Tb/s aggregate switching capacity
- SX6518: 324 FDR 56Gb/s InfiniBand QSFP ports in a 16U switch. 36.36Tb/s aggregate switching capacity
- 170ns to 510ns switching latency
- Congestion control
- Quality of Service enforcement
- Support for Forward Error Correction (FEC)
- N+N power supply option order
Availability
The SX6518 is immediately available through Mellanox’s server and switch OEMs and authorized distributors/resellers. The SX6512 will be available in June 2012. The SX6018 and SX6506 will be available in the third quarter of 2012.
