QLogic and IBM Enable HPC Customers to Complete Complex
Simulations Faster With Highest Performance QDR Adapters in
the Industry
PORTLAND, Ore., Nov. 16, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SC09 -- Expanding on
its successful OEM agreement with IBM for quad data rate (QDR)
InfiniBand(R) switches, QLogic (Nasdaq:QLGC) today announced IBM
(NYSE:IBM) has integrated QLogic's performance-leading 7300 Series
40Gb/sec QDR InfiniBand host channel adapters into its IBM System x
servers for high performance computing (HPC) applications. IBM is the
first tier-one OEM to integrate QLogic(R) QDR adapters and will offer
them as part of IBM's latest IBM System Cluster 1350.
IBM offers a range of HPC services and products designed to bring more
intelligence, automation, integration, and efficiencies to both digital
and physical infrastructures. The new QLogic QDR adapters will be
offered with QLogic QDR switches as integrated HPC solutions for
customers running applications for molecular simulations, computational
fluid dynamics, advanced aeronautic design, geospatial imaging and
computer-aided engineering. IBM solutions using the Cluster 1350 and
the IBM iDataPlex help provide needed business continuity and high
availability solutions to facilitate massive supercomputing clusters
and grid computing architectures.
"This announcement signifies another important design win for QLogic
technology," said Bob Laliberte, senior analyst, ESG. "Earlier this
year IBM selected QLogic for high performance converged networking
technology for System x and System p; now they have expanded the
relationship to include QLogic's 40Gb QDR InfiniBand technology to
empower HPC environments on its System x solutions. QLogic has
established itself as a formidable competitor in the HPC space and
carries a great deal of momentum into 2010."
Based on the QLogic TrueScale(TM) ASIC platform for QDR InfiniBand, the
QLogic 7300 Series delivers a higher messaging rate and lower scalable
latency than any comparative cluster-interconnect available today.
Delivering a message rate of up to 30 million messages per second, the
QLogic 7300 Series outperforms competitive QDR adapters by a ratio of
more than five to one (1).
"With today's moves, QLogic is delivering a trifecta of news to the HPC
space," said Deni Connor, senior analyst, Storage Strategies Now. "The
company is effectively proving that top-quality HPC technology
translates into increased business momentum; that OEMs realize the
competitive advantages that QLogic enables them to extend to end users
in the HPC market, and that other HPC networking vendors just got
passed. QLogic has raised the stakes in the HPC connectivity market
with its QDR adapters, that are as much as 22 percent faster than
competitors and with QDR switches that have over twice the port count,
bandwidth and model granularity."
"HPC customers such as universities, government research labs and
manufacturers have a growing demand for a cluster interconnect based
upon open standards that scales more efficiently with the number of
active cores in today's multi-core compute environment," said Jesse
Parker, vice president and general manager, Network Solutions Group,
QLogic. "The addition of 40Gb/sec QDR network connectivity with
QLogic's unparalleled 30 million messages-per-second and low scalable
latency supports IBM's high performance System x mission of increasing
productivity, delivering the highest application performance and
completing complex simulations faster than any other solution in the
market today."
"IBM continues to push the boundaries of integrated solutions for high
performance computing, with technology like the IBM System Cluster 1350
and IBM iDataPlex, that provide customers industry-leading performance
and energy efficiency," said Alex Yost, vice president, IBM Systems &
Technology Group. "The addition of QLogic 7300 Series QDR adapters will
drive new levels of System x-based cluster performance, allowing IBM to
deliver pre-tested, easy-to-deploy HPC solutions."
QLogic 7300 Series QDR InfiniBand-to-PCI Express(R) (PCIe(R))
Generation 2 x8 host channel adapters are available in single- and
dual-port models. Delivering massive levels of performance,
reliability, and scalability, the 7300 Series is the ideal solution for
HPC and high-throughput, low-latency enterprise applications. Key 7300
Series advantages include:
Superior Performance
* Performance that scales with the number of cores, resulting in
shorter time-to-solution
* Highest message rate in industry: up to 30M messages/sec
* Low latency: 1.0 us point-to-point
* Bandwidth of 3400MBps unidirectional
Superior Scalability
* Connectionless operation eliminates overhead that wastes valuable
CPU resources, and reduces host memory consumption to allow
efficient scaling
* Message passing interface (MPI) latency remains low as additional
compute resources are added to the cluster
* Lightweight memory footprint at scale
Enhanced Reliability & Power Efficiency
* Simplistic design with fewer components -- inherently more reliable
than comparative alternatives
* Highly efficient ASIC architecture allows for the lowest power
requirements of any QDR-capable IB adapter
* Low power consumption: 6W (typ)
InfiniBand Networks powered by QLogic
QLogic offers a comprehensive, end-to-end portfolio of InfiniBand
networking products for HPC including QDR host channel adapters, QDR
multi-protocol director and edge switches and intuitive tools to
install, operate, and maintain high performance fabrics. Delivering the
industry's highest message rate, lowest MPI latency and highest
effective bandwidth, QLogic InfiniBand adapters enable MPI and TCP
applications to scale to thousands of nodes with industry-leading
price-performance. As the most comprehensive and flexible HPC cluster
interconnect fabric solutions on the market, QLogic QDR InfiniBand
switches incorporate the industry's only management tools that enable
an administrator to install and boot an InfiniBand fabric in minutes,
helping to accommodate the growing demand for high performance
computational clusters and grids.
(1) Based on results from the "OSU MPI Multiple Bandwidth / Message
Rate Test."
Follow QLogic @ twitter.com/qlogic
About QLogic
QLogic (Nasdaq:QLGC) is a global leader and technology innovator in
high performance networking, including adapters, switches and ASICs.
Leading OEMs and channel partners worldwide rely on QLogic products for
their data, storage and server networking solutions. QLogic is a NASDAQ
Global Select company and is included in the S&P 500. For more
information, visit www.qlogic.com.