IBM And Topspin In InfiniBand Deal

Topspin Communications will supply its InfiniBand switch technology to IBM, which, in turn, will integrate Topspin's server switches and software into its eServer and TotalStorage product lines. The multiyear agreement was announced on Tuesday.

"Working with Topspin," said IBM's Mark Shearer, vice president of marketing and strategy, IBM Systems Group, in a statement "our plan is to make InfiniBand a base technology for all IBM eServer systems and storage, and the underlying fabric for future initiatives around on-demand computing."

Shearer said IBM is focusing on InfiniBand technology because of its capability to scale up to 30 Gbps. The agreement gives IBM the right to resell Topspin's current and future Server Switch family of products for use in high-performance computing and database clustering markets. Topspin's current 4X family, with 10-Gbps capacity, and its future 12X, with 30-Gbps, will be available for use with the IBM eServer pSeries, zSeries, iSeries, and xSeries systems.

IBM has already included Topspin products in several installations, including the MCNC Grid Computing & Networking Services network in North Carolina.

In the statement, Topspin's chief executive officer, Krish Ramakrisnan, said: "By establishing this relationship with IBM, an even wider range of enterprises will be able to profit from our solutions in their scale-out, blade server, and on-demand computing initiatives."