During ComputeX 2023, NVIDIA unveiled a range of advanced products, including advanced chips, supercomputing architectures, and sophisticated switches. Of particular interest is the powerful AI supercomputer NVIDIA Helios. It leverages the Quantum-2 Infiniband network to accurately connect four DGX GH200 systems, greatly improving the efficiency of large-scale AI model training.
Various indicators point to a decisive shift towards accelerated computing in data centers, a trend driven by artificial intelligence and high-performance computing (AIGC). To meet the growing demands of high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, and vast infrastructure, the need for accelerated interconnection and smarter networking solutions is growing. Against this backdrop, Infiniband products have become the focus of the industry because they can meet these urgent needs.
Infiniband is a high-speed, low-latency interconnect technology primarily used in data centers and high-performance computing (HPC) environments. It provides a high-performance fabric for connecting servers, storage devices, and other network resources within a cluster or data center. The advent of Infiniband technology is closely related to the large network latency and additional operating system costs associated with traditional TCP IP protocols.
The traditional TCP protocol is a widely used transmission protocol for devices ranging from everyday appliances such as refrigerators to complex supercomputers. However, its application often comes with huge costs, because the TCP protocol is complex, large, exceptionally numerous, and difficult to uninstall.
In contrast, Infiniband employs a trust-based flow control mechanism that ensures connection integrity and minimizes packet loss. In an infiniband environment, data transfer occurs only when there is sufficient space in the receive buffer. Once the data transfer is complete, the receiver signals the available buffer space, eliminating the retransmission delay associated with the initial packet loss. This approach significantly improves efficiency and overall performance.
Infiniband technology was developed under the supervision of the Infiniband Association (IBTA), which is responsible for maintaining and promoting the Infiniband standard. In addition, the Infiniband Association ensures compliance and conducts interoperability testing of commercial Infiniband products. Of the nine key directors of the Infiniband** association, only two companies – Mellanox and Emulex – are committed to Infiniband. Due to poor operating performance, Emulex was acquired by **ago in 2015. Currently, Mellanox dominates the Infiniband market, with clusters deploying far more of its products than its competitors.
Overall, Infiniband technology offers the following benefits:
High speed and scalability.
Low latency. Low power consumption.
In the field of high-performance computing (HPC), high-speed interconnect networks (HSIs) play a vital role in system performance and efficiency. Among them, Infiniband technology has become a key component widely used in high-performance computing due to its excellent performance. As one of the most effective high-speed interconnection technologies, Infiniband is capable of delivering up to 200Gbps of bandwidth and less than 0.0 μlThe point-to-point latency of 6ms provides strong support for building high-performance computing clusters.
With the high-speed networking capability of Infiniband , high-performance computing systems can effectively combine multiple servers to achieve linear performance scalability. This technology plays an important role in the development of high-performance computing clusters, especially in the construction of supercomputers. Enterprises, as well as large or hyperscale data centers, benefit from its high reliability, availability, scalability, and superior performance. Therefore, the importance of infiniband technology in the field of high-performance computing is not only reflected in improving the performance of computing clusters, but also in providing key support for data centers of different sizes to promote the overall development of the high-performance computing ecosystem.
Mellanox, a leader in Infiniband (IB), was acquired by NVIDIA in April 2020. The official purchase platform for Mellanox products is the official ** store of Nvidia. This company is efficient and reliable, offering a wide range of connectors. However, some products may not be directly available on the official **. If the product is not available on the official website, customers can choose to purchase it from an NVIDIA partner.
Nvidia's partners are the leading players in the market for solutions and products, including Infiniband cables and optical transceivers. Infiniband cables and transceivers are distributed worldwide through the NVIDIA Authorized Distributor network. Information about distributors can be found on the official NVIDIA website. Despite the close cooperation between distributor partners and NVIDIA, there may still be connector shortages, market shortages, and long lead times.
FS is an elite partner of NVIDIA and offers a wide range of Infiniband products on its website, including NVIDIA Infiniband switches, Infiniband modules, Infiniband cables, and NVIDIA Infiniband network cards. FS has a sufficient inventory of Infiniband products and ensures fast delivery. If you want to purchase an Infiniband product or obtain an Infiniband solution, you can contact FS for assistance.
Infiniband products play a vital role in high-performance computing data centers, and choosing the right one is critical to operational success. The comprehensive Infiniband system includes Infiniband switches, Infiniband network cards, Infiniband Ethernet gateways, Infiniband cables and transceivers, Infiniband telemetry and software management, and Infiniband acceleration software.
Choosing the right Infiniband product is critical for high-performance computing data centers. Consideration of factors including bandwidth and distance requirements, connectors, budget, compatibility, reliability, and future needs can help you choose the right Infiniband connector.
About Infiniband Network Interconnect Products:
DAC high-speed copper cables provide an economical solution for short-distance, high-speed interconnects.
AOC active fiber optic cables utilize optical technology for data transmission over longer distances.
Optical modules are typically used for long-distance, high-speed interconnects.
Understanding the different product categories, speeds, and packaging modules can help you make informed decisions, and choosing the right vendor ensures that you get a high-quality Infiniband product that meets your performance and budget requirements.
Some users still have questions about whether to use Infiniband or Ethernet in HPC computing power. In fact, for high-performance computing, infiniband is more suitable.
In the field of high-performance computing (HPC), Infiniband has demonstrated advantages over Ethernet in several key ways:
Flow control mechanism.
Infiniband uses end-to-end flow control to ensure that messages are not congested during transmission, enabling a lossless network. In contrast, Ethernet's flow control mechanism is relatively simple and can lead to congestion and data loss.
Network topology advantages.
Infiniband introduces a subnet manager in its Layer 2 network, with the ability to configure the local ID of nodes and distribute path information through control plane calculations. This makes it easy to deploy large-scale networks without flooding, VLAN, or loop outages. This brings unique advantages to Infiniband over Ethernet.
Performance parameters. Infiniband offers higher bandwidth, lower latency, and less jitter, making it ideal for fast and reliable data transfer in HPC environments. Infiniband has faster data transfer rates from 40G to 400G compared to Ethernet, which is currently limited to 100G.
Applicability of GPU workloads.
Infiniband is better suited to handle GPU workloads, enabling high-speed data transfer between CPUs and GPUs. This is especially important for tasks that require a lot of computing power, as Ethernet is weak in this regard.
Parallel computing is supported.
Infiniband allows multiple processors to communicate simultaneously, demonstrating the excellent performance of parallel computing. This is critical for applications that require a lot of parallel computing power.
Global HPC TOP500 rankings.
According to the recent global HPC TOP500 rankings, Infiniband has been steadily increasing its market share and currently dominates the TOP100, while Ethernet's market share is declining.
Right now, we're in an era where artificial intelligence and general computing (AIGC) are booming. Major platform giants such as OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google, as well as app-focused companies such as Midjourney and Character Al, are accelerating the development and evolution of AI applications and services. In addition, the rapid emergence of new companies and new applications has created a highly competitive atmosphere in the field of artificial intelligence.
It's clear that computing power plays a vital role in determining productivity. At the moment, Nvidia's Infiniband products are clearly in short supply. To meet your business needs, it's important to choose the right premium and Infiniband product.