ACADEMIA

SilverStorm Technologies announced today several new products that set an unprecedented standard for cluster network switch and gateway port density and application performance. SilverStorm's portfolio of InfiniBand based switching and gateway solutions provide users with a low latency, multi-protocol interconnect fabric that supports both cluster inter-process communication and shared storage and networking I/O access. Cluster performance is significantly improved and the data center is dramatically simplified. The deployment of clustered computing architectures is expanding at an accelerating rate. Driven by new software developments in parallel processing, commodity priced blade and rack mount servers, and new alternatives for cost effective storage, the demand for high performance cluster interconnect solutions has never been greater. SilverStorm has responded to support this demand with several extensions to its award winning family of switch and gateway solutions. These extensions include: -- Support for 20 Gbps InfiniBand double data rate (DDR) across its 9000 family of switch and switch gateway products. DDR sets a new bandwidth standard for high performance, low latency interconnects. -- A new 9000 family hybrid switch gateway module that simultaneously supports 10 SDR/DDR 4x InfiniBand ports and 8 1/2/4 Gbps Fibre Channel ports. -- A new 9000 family hybrid switch gateway module that simultaneously supports 10 SDR/DDR 4x InfiniBand ports and two 10 Gbps Ethernet ports, the industry's first InfiniBand to 10 Gbps Ethernet gateway. -- Three new 9000 family slot independent chassis. In addition to today's 12- and 24-slot chassis, 2-, 4- and 8-slot configurations are being added to the line providing unparalleled flexibility for small clustered computing to large multi-thousand node networks. -- Oracle 10g RAC Accelerator, a sockets offload driver and reliable inter-processor communications protocol that reduces CPU loads by 50%, latency by 30% and enables Oracle 10g RAC deployments in large clusters. With today's announcement, SilverStorm sets a new standard for high performance interconnect port density, flexibility and performance. Supporting a combination of 288 InfiniBand ports and 192 gateway ports in a single chassis, SilverStorm's solutions almost double the density provided by others in today's marketplace. For large clusters, SilverStorm solutions require significantly less hardware, space, power and cabling which translates into much lower costs to deploy and operate a data center. "SilverStorm is committed to leading the InfiniBand industry with new product and technology innovations," said Russ Hawkins, CEO of SilverStorm Technologies. "Our customers are requesting support for larger clusters, greater interconnect performance and cost efficiency. All of these are capabilities that InfiniBand technology and SilverStorm are uniquely able to provide." SilverStorm is showcasing its solutions this week at the SC|05 trade show being held at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle, Washington. The new product extensions will be generally available starting in the first quarter of 2006.