GOVERNMENT

Siliquent Technologies, a company dedicated to expanding Ethernet's application throughout the data center, today announced that it is a founding member of the iWARP Consortium. Led by the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL), the group will refine new remote data memory access (RDMA)-over-Ethernet products and ensure their interoperability. Their efforts will result in proven, iWARP-compliant products that can be rapidly deployed in high-performance parallel, cluster and grid computing applications. Last summer, Siliquent became the first company to introduce iWARP-compliant 4G and 10G Ethernet processors. iWARP is a protocol standard that enables RDMA to run over Ethernet networks via TCP/IP, the common transport mechanism underlying today's networks and the Internet. RDMA enables information to be placed directly from one computer's memory into another, bypassing the CPU and delivering dramatic performance improvements in networking applications. The ability to run RDMA over TCP/IP via the iWARP protocol, combined with emerging 10G Ethernet data rates, will allow Ethernet to become the single transport protocol for all networking, storage, and high-performance computing needs. The activities of the UNH-IOL iWARP Consortium are intended to smooth the adoption curve associated with this emerging technology. "We believe that 10G Ethernet data rates will enable the convergence of standard networking, storage and high-performance computing applications, reducing cost and complexity for enterprise users," said Charles Chi, president and CEO of Siliquent Technologies. "The iWARP standard will play a central role in that convergence. By working with these industry-leading semiconductor and system companies to deliver iWARP-compliant products, we will give users the confidence they need to begin the transition to Ethernet in high-performance networking applications." As a member of the UNH-IOL iWARP Consortium, Siliquent Technologies plans to contribute to a test bed that will act as the industry's primary reference point for identifying and solving interoperability issues between different manufacturers' products. The consortium will produce detailed test suites comprising an industry-wide metric for evaluating and improving industry-standards conformance and ability to operate in worst-case scenarios. Siliquent introduced its first products last summer, outlining its strategy for enabling Ethernet to scale across all data center I/O applications -- from general-purpose computing to storage and high-performance clustering. A variety of large system OEMs are currently designing new network interface cards (NICs) based on the company's 4G and 10 G Ethernet processors. The new NICs will enable users to leverage their existing IT infrastructure for both general-purpose and high-performance networking applications, while simplifying the deployment of equipment and making data center management more efficient.