Topspin Bundles Utility Computing Package

Underscoring the flexibility many analysts believe is necessary in modern IT
architectures, Topspin Communications Monday unveiled a starter kit that
facilitates utility computing.

The Grid-to-Go package, which includes switches and adapters for tying
servers, storage and applications together, is designed for commodity
servers from IBM , Dell , HP and Sun Microsystems .

Stu Aaron, Topspin vice president of marketing, said the kit will cost
customers as little as one-twentieth what proprietary utility computing
packages cost, because it allows them to use their legacy machines and
resources as opposed to buying new gear.

For Topspin, the notion of utility computing comes in the form of a grid
architecture, where the company’s connectivity products help customers
automatically provision servers, storage and software to handle asks.

The kit comes in full or half rack configurations, and customers must provide
their servers and storage. For $64,995, the full rack consists of one
Topspin 360 Server Switch that supports up to 24 InfiniBand-attached
servers and up to 12 expansion slots for Ethernet
and Fibre Channel gateways.

There is also one Topspin EX Ethernet Gateway with six Gigabit Ethernet
Ports for connecting the Grid-to-Go infrastructure to Ethernet LANs and/or
network-attached storage . One Topspin FC Fibre Channel
gateway offers two 1 gigabit per second or 2Gbps Fibre Channel ports for
connecting the infrastructure to storage.

Rounding out the full rack are 24 10Gbps InfiniBand Host Channel Adapters
(HCAs) for PCI-X with remote boot capabilities, 24 3M InfiniBand cables and
Topspin VFrame Director software.

Aaron told internetnews.com that customers requiring less infrastructure
can pick the half rack for $43,995. Capable of powering up to 12 servers,
the half rack comes with one Topspin 360 Server Switch with 12 InfiniBand
ports, one EX Ethernet Gateway providing 6 Gigabit Ethernet Ports, one Fibre
Channel gateway, 12 InfiniBand HCAs, 12 cables and VFrame Director.

As the key component of the package, the server switch connects via
Ethernet, Fibre Channel or InfiniBand, mapping resources into virtual
servers, which can then be provisioned with the correct application. The
VFrame virtualization software is used to program the switch with business
policies.

The Grid-to-Go program will run through December 2004.