InfiniBand
InfiniBand (abbreviated IB), a computer-networking communications standard used in high-performance computing, features very high throughput and very low latency. It is used for data interconnect both among and within computers. InfiniBand is also utilized as either a direct, or switched interconnect between servers and storage systems, as well as an interconnect between storage systems.
As of 2014 it is the most commonly used interconnect in supercomputers. Mellanox and Intel manufacture InfiniBand host bus adapters and network switches. Mellanox IB cards are available for Solaris, RHEL, SLES, Windows, HP-UX, VMware ESX. It is designed to be scalable and uses a switched fabric network topology.
As an interconnect, IB competes with Ethernet and proprietary technologies such as Cray's SeaStar.
Alternative network transport technologies include Fibre Channel and Ethernet.
The technology is promoted by the InfiniBand Trade Association.
Specification
Performance
Links can be aggregated: most systems use a 4X aggregate. 12X links are typically used for cluster and supercomputer interconnects and for inter-switch connections.
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