Simplicity Key to InfiniCons Latest InfiniBand Moves

InfiniCon Systems Inc. on Monday unveiled an embedded InfiniBand fabric management tool, an entry-level switching system and a dual-port HCA (host channel adapter) designed to comply with PCI-X.

"Now, anyone with a PCI-X card can bring in InfiniBand into their system," said Charles Foley, CEO of the King of Prussia, Pa., company.

InfiniCons InfiniView Fabric Manager is a GUI-based application designed to give users a complete view of the InfiniBand fabric, Foley said. It tracks such jobs as device discovery and mapping, path management, and performance monitoring.

The InfinIO 2000 Switching System is a smaller version of the InfinIO 7000 system, introduced in September 2002. While that system offered six to 60 10G ports, the 2000 will offer up to eight ports. The new switch is aimed at small to midsized companies running clustered servers, Foley said.

The InfiniServ 7000 HCA will enable users to connect PCI and PCI-X servers to an InfiniBand environment at 10G.

InfiniCons announcement follows moves by other vendors to bring InfiniBand into the low end. Late last month, Voltaire Inc. unveiled an InfiniBand starter kit for the high-performance computing space, with the hopes of giving customers enough of a taste of the low-latency interconnect to entice them to buy into the technology.

Foley said InfiniCons new products feature a simplicity that will be attractive to users.

"What you have here is a very plug-and-play fabric," he said. "You put the card into the host, and you bring up the switch."