University Deploys InfiniBand Network from QLogic

By DE Editors

QLogic Corp. (Aliso Viejo, CA) announced the University of Oklahoma (OU) Supercomputing Center for Education & Research (OSCER; Norman, OK) deployed QLogic InfiniBand adapters and switches as part of its newest Linux cluster, known as Sooner.

OU researchers will use Sooner to study and model tornadoes, in hopes of improving early warning systems and reducing the financial toll and number of lives lost to these powerful windstorms.

OU Information Technology and OSCER installed QLogic 7200 Series double data rate (DDR) InfiniBand adapters, based on the QLogic TrueScale architecture, and QLogic SilverStorm 9000 Series InfiniBand core and edge switches to Sooner during the “in-place” transition from OU’s previous cluster.

(The November 2008 Top500 list of Supercomputers ranks the Sooner Linux cluster in the 91st position and reports that Sooner has achieved 28 TFLOPs at 83 percent efficiency.)

QLogic says that the 7200 Series adapters deliver 20Gb DDR InfiniBand performance in a cluster interconnect, allowing organizations to gain maximum advantage and return on their investment by driving up the utilization of high-performance computing infrastructure. The 7200 Series, based on the QLogic TrueScale DDR ASIC platform, is designed to provide HPC cluster interconnectivity with the highest messaging rate and lowest latency available. QLogic 7200 Series InfiniBand adapters are the first to deliver up to 26 million messages per second between computing nodes at low scalable latencies. With a low-power design, the 7200 Series is environmentally friendly and highly reliable. The 7200 Series adheres to the OpenFabrics Distribution (OFED) standard and has been certified with all major independent software vendors (ISVs) and independent hardware vendors (IHVs) for plug-and-play interoperability, says the company.

QLogic SilverStorm 9000 Series multi-protocol fabric directors support high-performance computing, database clustering, and grid utility computing applications. The SilverStorm 9000 Series maximizes cluster and grid computing interconnect performance while simplifying and reducing data center costs.

For details, go to QLogic.

Sources:  Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.