Intel extends the reach of HPC clusters

Intel has come up with a sleeker, longer distance alternative to the copper cabling used to interconnect Infiniband and 10 gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) high performance computing (HPC) clusters in data centres and server farms.

Intel Connect Cables, which use the same switch interface as copper AWG cables but do not require a separate optical transceiver, were announced today/last week along with a standardisation program to help clustering vendors build, test and ship new HPC solutions based on the technology.

The 24AWG copper cabling commonly used in data centres transfers data between server memory and CPUs over a maximum distance of 8 to 10 metres. In contrast, Intel Connect Cables transmit up to 20Gbit/s of data over distances of up to 20m, with the maximum reach extended to 100m, though at lower throughput.

Few data center managers are likely to take on the cost and inconvenience of upgrading the HPC wiring platform in existing facilities. But the new cabling may prove attractive to those looking to cram more servers into new buildings where space and cooling remain prime concerns.

Intel estimates that Cables Connect is 84 per cent lighter and 33 per cent thinner than AWG, which it says can help improve airflow in server racks and put less strain on cabinets and floors. It also has less errors and enables data centres to cluster more CPUs together to achieve petaflop processing performance.

"The distance is a big deal because copper cabling can only do 1,000 CPUs at 20Gbit/s DDRS. Connect can do multiples of thousands, going onto multiple floors, which means you can organise the data centre differently, in different rooms and with more storage space than would normally be available if it was all close together near the switches," said Tom Willis, Intel general manager of Connect Cables.

Though the Connects cabling itself attracts a hefty price premium over AWG copper equivalents, Intel says the two are largely equal because Connects does not have the additional cost of providing optical transceivers at each end of the link.
Several companies demonstrated Intel Connects Cables at the International Supercomputing Conference (ISC) in Dresden this week, including Cisco, Dell, HP, IBM, SGI and Sun Microsystems.