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MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--Topspin Communications, the leader in switched computing, announced today a significant technology enhancement to its Switched Computing System. Topspin has added a hardware abstraction layer and programmable APIs to its switches which provide the first server, storage, and software agnostic programmable interconnect for creating flexible grid computing architectures. Topspin's new technology will be on display at Cluster World Conference and Expo, June 24-26, booth #113. Topspin will demonstrate how the Switched Computing System translates policies--defined by third-party and homegrown provisioning applications--into actions that map server, storage, and networking resources together on the fly. "Topspin is the first company to enable on demand computing exclusively at the interconnect level," said Vernon Turner, Group Vice President, Global Enterprise Server Solutions, IDC. "With standards-based technology compatible with all server, storage, and software resources, Topspin has positioned itself as a strong partner for any of the large system and application vendors looking to bring the on-demand computing vision to market." By clustering servers and implementing system and data mapping intelligence through a single switch, Topspin enables core enterprise applications, like databases, to scale up and down based on business requirements. "Oracle has worked closely with Topspin for the last year to enable highly scalable database clusters across InfiniBand," said Benny Souder, vice president of Distributed Database Development, Oracle Corporation. "With additional ability to program connections through their switches, we believe Topspin's solution can provide a superb networking foundation for Oracle's grid architecture where computing and data resources are provisioned on the fly. This provides customers with the ability to securely, efficiently, and dynamically align resources based on their business needs. "This is a major milestone in completing our switched computing vision," said Stu Aaron, Vice President, Marketing and Business Development at Topspin. "With our programmable switches, I/O gateways and mapping intelligence, we're raising the bar for cluster interconnect solutions. And, we're committed to helping the major system and software vendors deliver their flexible computing visions." Topspin's Switched Computing Systems enable flexible computing by providing three building blocks in one solution. 1) An extremely fast InfiniBand-based switch for interconnecting volume servers into highly scalable application clusters 2) An intelligent backplane for linking these clusters with their storage and networking resources through InfiniBand-to-Fibre Channel and InfiniBand-to-Ethernet gateways 3) And now, the new hardware abstraction layer with APIs through which third-party provisioning applications can direct the switch to implement policies The Topspin switch uses externally defined policies to decide when and how to establish connections between server, storage, and networking resources required by each application. The switch moves application images from storage to server and links each server with the appropriate amount of storage and network bandwidth as needed. By automating the process of interconnecting resources, Topspin eliminates the most costly and labor-intensive part of the application provisioning process.