Advanced Computing in the Age of AI | Tuesday, March 19, 2024

EDR Debuts on Newest IBTA Integrator List 

The InfiniBand Trade Association (IBTA) is distributing the most recent release of its Combined Cable and Device Integrators List, which shows all products that passed the compliance and interoperability requirements during the April 2013 IBTA Plugfest (#23). Making a debut to the list, cables supporting the Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) 100Gb/s InfiniBand Standard were tested for the first time.

The group says that the groundwork for EDR to emerge in 2013-2014 was laid last November when it announced Release 1.3 of its InfiniBand Architecture Specification Volume 2, which introduced new testing methods data transfer speeds of 56Gb/s and 168GB/s.

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EDR, sometimes referred to as Twenty Five Data Rate, enables the capability for data transfer rates of 25Gb/s per lane (100Gb/s for 4x). According to the InfiniBand Roadmap, bandwidths reaching 300Gb/s can be expected to be seen as early as this year.

Updated every spring and fall, the 43-page IBTA Integrators’ List (which can be downloaded here) aims at providing IT stakeholders with a comprehensive overview of all InfiniBand compliant products. Each piece of equipment is rigorously tested and qualified using an array of InfiniBand adapters, switches, storage targets and cables.

“Interoperability and compliance is consistently important for vendors and their customers, especially as InfiniBand and RDMA technology continue to deliver higher interconnect speed and performance,” said Rupert Dance, co-chair of the IBTA Compliance and Interoperability Working Group (CIWG).

This newest list is being released ahead of the fall version of the bi-annual confab. The IBTA’s Plugfest 24 is taking place in roughly two weeks, October 7-18 at the University of New Hampshire Interoperability Lab in Durham, New Hampshire. Those interested in participating in the Burning Man for Infiniband can find registration information here.

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