Myricom Rolls Out 10-Gigabit Solutions for IBM BladeCenter H; Next-generation Network Dramatically Increases Speed, Interoperability

Business Wire, Feb 8, 2006

ARCADIA, Calif. -- In support of IBM's announcement today of the IBM BladeCenter H, Myricom is announcing a suite of 10-Gigabit networking products that fully leverage the performance advances introduced in BladeCenter H. Myricom's Myri-10G solutions for 10-Gigabit Ethernet and 10-Gigabit Myrinet networking will include high-speed daughter cards (HSDCs) that mount on BladeCenter H processor blades, and high-speed switch modules (HSSMs) that plug into BladeCenter H network-module bays.

These Myri-10G products for the IBM BladeCenter H deliver the same exceptional performance with the same software support as standard-product Myri-10G network-interface cards (NICs) and switches. In comparison with conventional server packaging, IBM BladeCenter H with Myri-10G networking increases density and reduces cabling complexity, while still providing inter-chassis and inter-rack connectivity over fiber, and scalability to any number of hosts.

Myricom started shipping low-latency, 2 Gigabit-per-second, Myrinet-2000, BladeCenter components to IBM in 2003. Several of the largest of the many BladeCenter clusters installed with Myrinet appear on the TOP500 supercomputer list, including the famous MareNostrum cluster at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, 4800 processors in 2400 JS-20 blades, and systems at Seoul National University, the Joint Supercomputer Center in Russia, and New York University.

"IBM and Myricom have worked together for a number of years bringing cost-effective, high-performance-computing solutions to the world's most demanding research, government, and commercial computing applications," said Tim Dougherty, Director of IBM BladeCenter and xSeries Product Marketing. "Many of the Linux clusters that broke new ground in scale and performance used earlier generations of Myrinet interconnect to great success, and we're very pleased that the new high-speed Myri-10G offerings will be available for the IBM BladeCenter H."

Standards-based Next-generation Speeds

The introduction of the IBM BladeCenter H increases the internal (mid-plane) communication capacity allowing 10 Gigabit-per-second data rates between processor blades and network modules. This advance, together with processor blades with PCI-Express I/O, fits Myricom's standards-based Myri-10G products perfectly. Inasmuch as Myri-10G PCI-Express NICs are dual-protocol devices at the data-link level, and Myri-10G physical links adhere to 10-Gigabit Ethernet standards, the high-speed daughter cards can interface to both 10-Gigabit Ethernet and 10-Gigabit Myrinet. Myri-10G software support is available for Linux, Windows, AIX, and other operating systems.

As with previous generations, Myri-10G NICs and their BladeCenter HSDC counterparts include processors and firmware that offload network protocol processing for low host-CPU utilization, and support kernel-bypass operation for low latency. These NICs deliver near-wire-speed user-level performance, typically 9.6 Gigabits per second data rates according to netperf TCP/IP and Intel MPI benchmarks. Nominal MPI latency using Myricom's Myrinet Express message passing system is approximately 2 microseconds.

The Myri-10G high-speed switch modules (HSSMs) designed for Blade Center H provide Myrinet switching for low-latency communication between processor blades in a single chassis, as well as external ports for connections between chassis. Large configurations may use external Myri-10G Myrinet switches with first-level switching performed by Myri-10G HSSMs within a BladeCenter chassis, and the second level of a full-bisection switch network provided by external switches. 10-Gigabit Myrinet switching is highly economical, and scalable to thousands of processor blades.

About Myricom (www.myri.com)

Founded in 1994, Myricom, Inc., created Myrinet, the high-performance computing (HPC) interconnect technology used in thousands of computing clusters in more than 50 countries. With its next-generation Myri-10G solutions, Myricom achieves a convergence at 10-Gigabit data rates between its low-latency Myrinet technology and mainstream Ethernet. Myri-10G bridges the gap between the rigorous demands of traditional HPC and the growing need for affordable computing speed in enterprise data centers. Privately held and based in Arcadia, California, Myricom achieved and has sustained profitability since 1995 with eleven consecutive profitable years through 2005.

All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their registered owners. Myricom and Myrinet are registered trademarks of Myricom, Inc.