Mellanox Technologies, a supplier of connectivity offerings for data centre servers and storage systems, has introduced next-gen switch silicon, SwitchX with Virtual Protocol Interconnect (VPI) technology, providing performance, efficiency and scalability for up to 36-ports of FDR 56Gb/s InfiniBand or 40GB Ethernet.
The new SwitchX can operate as an InfiniBand switch or Ethernet switch (including Data Centre Bridging – DCB) with low-latency and power while providing switching capabilities in each category.
In addition, the IC includes integrated convergence technology for Fibre Channel NPIV gateways.
SwitchX provides more than 4Tb/s of non-blocking switching throughput and allows new levels of protocol flexibility, simplicity and reliability to eliminate networking bottlenecks in modern data centres for server-to-server, server-to-storage or storage-to-storage connectivity, said the company.
The SwitchX delivers next-gen service-oriented switch capabilities and enables convergence of LAN (Local Area Network), SAN (Storage Area Network) and IPC (Inter Processor Communications) service architectures.
It also allows flexible partitioning of the network into multiple management domains to support multi-tenancy and the delivery of an extensive array of network services over a common infrastructure, the company said.
The company said that when combined with Mellanox’s ConnectX family of VPI adapters, SwitchX provides an efficient end-to-end interconnect offering that delivers superior application performance.
Mellanox Technologies chairman and CEO Eyal Waldman said the new class of data centres requires lossless, high density, low power switching capabilities that removes bottlenecks, supports convergence and maximises efficiency for the best return-on-investment.
"SwitchX delivers on these requirements with best-in-class features and performance over both InfiniBand and Ethernet protocols for maximum flexibility. We are proud to provide the industry’s first 56Gb/s FDR InfiniBand and the highest density Ethernet switch, both in the same IC with SwitchX," Waldman said.
