[Beowulf] Intel buys QLogic InfiniBand business

[Gilad Shainer]

> If you want to put an IB HCA in a CPU or a {north,south}bridge, TrueScale nee
> InfiniPath is a much smaller implementation than others, and most of the chip
> is memory, which Intel knows how to shrink drastically compared to the usual
> way people implement memory.


So I wonder why multiple OEMs decided to use Mellanox for on-board solutions and no one used the QLogic silicon... 


> Also, keep in mind that Intel's benchmarking group in Moscow has a lot of
> experience with benchmarking real apps for bids using TrueScale head-to-head
> against other HCAs, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was the case that TrueScale
> QDR is faster than that other company's FDR on many real codes, 


Surprise surprise... this is no more than FUD. If you have real numbers to back it up please send. If it was so great, how come more people decided to use the Mellanox solutions? If QLogic was doing so great with their solution, I would guess they would not be selling the IB business... 


> Finally, I haven't seen it mentioned whether or not QLogic's IB switch was part
> of the purchase. If it is, then you should note that it's not hard to make that chip
> speak ethernet, and Intel could probably dramatically improve it with their
> superior serdes technology.
> 
> -- greg