OpenIB Alliance gets DOE grant

 
OpenIBT Alliance Members Win Department of Energy Grant to Accelerate
the Development of New Open Source InfiniBand* Software for
High-Performance Computing
 
OpenIB Alliance Members' Intel, Voltaire and Topspin Communications to
Accelerate Single InfiniBand Open Source Software Stack for Linux
Community
 
Demonstration of the first functionality at SC2004 NNSA/ASC booth 403
 
PITTSBURGH, Nov. 9, 2004 - The OpenIB Alliance announced it received an
award from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Nuclear
Security Administration (NNSA) via the PathForward program, a technology
vendor partnership project of NNSA's Advanced Simulation and Computing
Program. The grant directs and underwrites OpenIB members Intel,
Voltaire and Topspin Communications to accelerate the creation of a
single InfiniBand software stack for submission to the Linux community
for kernel inclusion and subsequent distribution.
 
"It's rewarding to have the DOE recognize the vital role that the OpenIB
Alliance members can play in delivering high performance Linux solutions
for use across multiple enterprise and high performance computing market
segments," said Richard Wirt, Intel Senior Fellow, general manager,
Software and Solutions Group.
 
The OpenIB Alliance will submit modules of this stack to kernel.org
requesting their inclusion in the 2.6 release and will request Linux
distributors such as Red Hat and SUSE to include these modules.
 
"We are delighted and honored to be selected by the DOE National
Laboratories - Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos and Sandia - to lead a
team to deliver the next generation InfiniBand software stack for the
open source, HPC and enterprise communities," said Ronnie Kenneth, CEO
and chairman, Voltaire.
 
The Open IB PathForward is multi-year project with milestones that
include reducing the latencies of kernel level drivers, increasing the
scalability and performance of the upper layer protocols for message
passing, file I/O and cluster interconnect topology management.
Throughout, the project the team will optimize routing for multi-layer,
multi-topology, InfiniBand networks while improving redundancy,
robustness and reliability. In addition the project will utilize the
OpenIB software repository creating an open source community compliant
software structure, problem tracking, maintenance and documentation
capabilities.
 
"We are pleased to be chosen for the OpenIB PathForward effort" said
Krish Ramakrishnan, CEO and chairman, Topspin Communications. "Topspin
is excited to play a key role in this development as it stands to
benefit the broad and rapid market adoption of InfiniBand-based
solutions."  
 
Initial demonstration of the first functionality of the OpenIB
PathForward drivers will be at Supercomputing 2004 as part of the
NNSA/ASC program at booth 403.
 
"The OpenIB PathForward marks an important step contributing to the open
source efforts impacting the adoption of InfiniBand in HPC," said Mark
Seager, principal investigator for ASC platforms at Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory. "A true open source solution supported by the DOE,
means the HPC, enterprise and storage industries can be assured of
InfiniBand's scalability, robustness and interoperability across
computing architectures and manufacturers. It also positions InfiniBand
for deployment as a high-performance cluster and grid interconnect for
expanding the scope of science insight we will gain from our capacity
computing."
 
"The InfiniBand Trade Association congratulates the OpenIB Alliance
members on the PathForward award," said Dr. Tom Bradicich, co-chair of
the InfiniBand Trade Association.
 
About the OpenIB Alliance
The OpenIB Alliance is an industry association chartered to deliver a
single open source Linux-based software stack for deploying InfiniBand.
Founded in June 2004, the OpenIB Alliance is comprised of technology
vendors and end user organizations including: Dell; Engenio Information
Technologies, Inc.; InfiniCon; Intel; Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory; Linux Networx, Mellanox Technologies; Network Appliance;
Oracle, Sandia National Laboratories; Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI), Sun
Microsystems, Inc.; Topspin Communications; Veritas; and Voltaire. More
information about OpenIB Alliance is available at www.openib.org
 
DOE NNSA ASC PathForward Program
PathForward is a technology vendor partnership project of the National
Nuclear Security Administration's Advanced Simulation and Computing
(ASC) Program - an integral and vital element of our nation's Stockpile
Stewardship Program, by which the United States ensures confidence in
the safety, performance and reliability of its nuclear stockpile. ASC
provides the integrating simulation and modeling capabilities and
technologies needed to combine new and old experimental data, past
nuclear test data, and past design and engineering experience into a
powerful tool for future design assessment and certification of nuclear
weapons and their components. Through PathForward, ASC strives to make
strategic, targeted investments with its vendor partners to accelerate
the development of hardware and software technologies needed to ensure
that complete, balanced systems for capability and capacity computing at
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Los Alamos National
Laboratory (LANL), and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) are available
in the marketplace for out-year procurements by the program.
 
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