Quoting from BusinessWire:
Voltaire, the leader in interconnect solutions for high performance grid computing today announced that it will integrate Xen server virtualization software with its InfiniBand interconnect solutions. The combination of the technologies brings to bear the vision of true grid computing: virtual data centers running on dynamically allocated compute, network and storage resources.
Xen is an open source server virtualization architecture that allows users to run multiple Virtual Machines (VMs) simultaneously on the same physical server. Each VM gets a portion of the server CPU, memory and I/O from Xen, which dynamically assigns resources to virtual machines or migrates virtual machines to other servers, if needed. Through integration with Voltaire InfiniBand interconnect, Xen benefits from multi-channel hardware and OS bypass to enable full isolation between virtual machines, greater performance and scalability.
The combined solution, which includes Voltaire network and storage virtualization technology, will improve the efficiency of enterprise data centers by providing the full flexibility to choose any application to run on any virtual server, and dynamically allocate compute, network, and storage resources. In addition, financial institutions required to comply with recent SEC regulations for data protection will have better flexibility to reassign applications geographically.
Voltaire is collaborating with Cambridge, U.K.-based XenSource and the open source Linux community to deliver the solution. InfiniBand and Xen drivers were recently added to the Linux kernel. Both drivers are in Kernel.org 2.6.11rc.
“Voltaire’s InfiniBand solutions are well-positioned to serve as the underlying infrastructure for Xen-based virtualized data centers,” said Moshe Bar, CTO of XenSource, a company founded by the creators of Xen to deliver enterprise class virtualization solutions. “The combination of RDMA transport standard protocols such as iSER and SDP and Voltaire’s multiprotocol switches fits well with the Xen virtualization architecture.”
“The combination of 10 Gbps InfiniBand architecture, Voltaire’s unique high-speed network and storage virtualization capabilities, and Xen server virtualization technology provides the most comprehensive, scalable and high-performance virtualization solution in the market,” said Yaron Haviv, CTO, Voltaire. “We look forward to delivering a powerful solution that makes true grid computing a reality in enterprise data centers.”
Voltaire interconnect solutions consist of layer 2-7 multiprotocol switches with integrated InfiniBand, GbE and Fibre Channel connectivity, grid management and virtualization software, adapters and software that enable high performance applications to run on commodity server and storage resources that can be virtualized into supercomputers. Voltaire switches are the fastest in the industry and are deployed successfully in the world’s largest production supercomputer and many other large grids.
Voltaire switches are centrally controlled and virtualized through embedded VoltaireVision Grid Interconnect Management software. VoltaireVision uses industry-standard interfaces to enterprise management platforms and can be provisioned by automation and policy platforms such as IBM Tivoli Intelligent Orchestrator and others. The integration of provisioning management tools, server virtualization software and intelligent grid interconnect solutions is the foundation of the next generation data center.
Voltaire is committed to driving adoption of open InfiniBand-based solutions for high performance grid computing through contributions to the Linux community. Last week the company announced its contribution of iSER (iSCSI RDMA) protocol sources to Open Source Linux projects (see related press release: Voltaire Contributes iSER (iSCSI RDMA) Storage Protocol Sources to the Linux Community). The Data Mover implementation was contributed to the Linux iSCSI Open Source project (http://linux-iscsi.sourceforge.net/) and the iSER transport implementation was posted at OpenIB.org – the open source InfiniBand project. iSER is a new IETF standard extension to iSCSI that includes support for multiple RDMA-based transports including InfiniBand and Ethernet RDMA. iSER brings significantly greater performance to iSCSI and leverages the protocol’s existing comprehensive management capabilities, allowing heterogeneous storage environments to utilize a single protocol and management infrastructure.