Sun Circles Topspin

Sun Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) announced today that it has entered into a technology development and software licensing agreement with InfiniBand startup Topspin Communications Inc., paving the way for the launch of its InfiniBand servers next year (see Sun Picks Topspin's InfiniBand).

Topspin will provide Sun with Fibre Channel and Gigabit Ethernet I/O cards that connect SANs and LANs to 10-Gbit/s InfiniBand-based servers. Under the agreement, Topspin will also help develop InfiniBand server software components for Sun's Solaris operating system.

"While some of our competitors are taking a 'wait-and-see' approach as InfiniBand evolves, Sun is developing InfiniBand technology today," says Neil Knox, executive VP of volume systems products at Sun.

The news puts to rest speculation that Sun might be skipping 4x (10-Gbit/s) InfiniBand in favor of focusing on its own development of 12x (30-Gbit/s) IB silicon (see Sun Sticks With InfiniBand).

Sun's relationship with Topspin -- which has been almost a year in the works -- is a positive sign for the InfiniBand market. While it's not clear how broadly InfiniBand will be adopted in the data center, analysts say that with Sun's support, the high-performance computing market has a solid supplier it can rely upon. Over time, they say, the technology may filter down into the broader market.Sun is the first major systems vendor to publicly articulate its plans to use InfiniBand, but it's nevertheless still cagey about when it will introduce products based on the standard. "It'll be sometime in 2004," says John Davis, director of marketing and program management at Sun. [Ed. note: When the angle of the moon is 40 degrees above Mars and just before the ebb tide begins to turn...]

For Topspin's part, the startup has overcome the difficult hurdle of getting the first endorsement of its technology by a major supplier. "It shows we are battle-tested," says Krish Ramakrishnan, CEO of Topspin.

The startup broke cover last July, with $30 million in funding from Advent International, Accel Partners, and Redpoint Ventures, along with two new investors, Duff Ackerman & Goodrich and Presidio Venture Partners (see Topspin Takes Off).

How much further Topspin can take the relationship with Sun isn't clear at this point. The server giant has already acquired two technology companies in the past year, Pirus Networks and Terraspring, which puts Sun in a more acquisitive position than its competitors. But it appears to be in no rush to scoop up startups in the InfiniBand sector just yet (see Sun Bounces on Terraspring, Sun to Pilot N1 in Q1, and Sun Beams on Pirus).

"InfiniBand is an industry standard, and there are all kinds of developments happening out there," says Sun's Davis. "We are interested in working with many third parties."This should be a relief to the other InfiniBand startups, some of which appear to be surviving on fresh air alone right now. Paceline Systems Corp. springs to mind. Meanwhile, Lane15 Software and InfiniSwitch Corp. have increased their chances of staying in game by merging (see Paceline Angles for Buyout and InfiniSwitch Merges Lanes).

Jo Maitland, Senior Editor, Byte and Switch