Mellanox Technologies launches ConnectX-3 Virtual Protocol Interconnect

Mellanox Technologies has launched ConnectX-3 Virtual Protocol Interconnect, or VPI, adapter ICs and cards, providing next-generation FDR 56Gb/s InfiniBand and 10/40GbE connectivity combined with the next-generation PCI Express 3.0 host bus for unprecedented scalability and fabric flexibility.

ConnectX-3's design, low power, and flexible protocol capability is expected to deliver the highest level of I/O throughput while reducing system power consumption and enabling cost-effective networking topologies, making it the preferred solution for high performance computing, financial services, database, Web 2.0, virtualized data centers and cloud computing, company added.

Utilizing FDR 56Gb/s InfiniBand and the support of PCIe Gen3, ConnectX-3 ICs double the throughput of prior generations and include GPU and MPI collectives acceleration engines to deliver high-performance computing application efficiency and scalability, accelerating the pace for Exascale computing.

ConnectX-3's 40GbE connectivity, with backwards compatibility to 10GbE helps set the stage for efficient, optimized data centers connected with high-bandwidth Ethernet fabrics that maximize performance and reduce costs, power and complexity.

"Mellanox continues to increase its performance-leadership position, developing the industry's best performance-based adapter solutions with integrated I/O technology to meet the flexibility and power efficiency needs of today's multi-core server and storage systems," said Eyal Waldman, chairman, president and CEO of Mellanox Technologies.

"Utilizing PCIe Gen 3, ConnectX-3 delivers the world's highest performance and lowest latency on either InfiniBand or Ethernet, with breakthrough application acceleration that delivers maximum efficiency for improved performance, reduced infrastructure costs and lowest power.

"With its low power, high-performance, and low cost per Gb/s bandwidth, ConnectX-3 is tailored to meet the demands of Web 2.0 applications where we believe it will be widely used."