Press Room

TWO SERVER I/O ARCHITECTURES TO BE UNITED

New Initiative to Provide One, Powerful and Scalable I/O Architecture for the Computer Industry Based on Future I/O and Next Generation I/O

August 31, 1999 - Seven of the computer industry's leading technology companies, Compaq, Dell, Hewlett-Packard Company, IBM, Intel, Microsoft Corp., and Sun Microsystems announced today the intent to merge the best ideas of the Future I/O (FIO) and Next Generation I/O (NGIO) input/output architectures into one specification to be used by server and peripheral vendors throughout the industry. A new industry group is being formed and will adopt technologies and concepts from both NGIO and FIO efforts.

"System I/O" will provide customers with the I/O performance they need at the price points they demand from entry level implementations to enterprise class data center deployments in a compatible and interoperable manner. The merged specification will provide a common system area network fabric for efficient support of both conventional server I/O and inter-processor communication among parallel clusters.

"System I/O" will provide an unprecedented range of performance for entry-level servers through high-end data-center class solutions using interoperable links with aggregate bandwidths of 500 MBytes/s, 2 GBytes/s, and 6 GBytes/s and a 2.5 Gbit/s "wire" signaling rate. As I/O demands continue to increase, "System I/O" will be able to address these needs by providing a compatible upgrade path to even higher performance interconnects and products.

The "System I/O" specification will lead to an I/O architecture that will eventually replace existing shared bus I/O. Initial products are expected in 2001. The companies also said the new architecture will provide additional system performance, reliability, and availability for servers and the peripherals that connect to them including storage and networking devices.

The new "System I/O" specification is a collaborative effort that utilizes the technology, experience and expertise of its many members. By building on the development efforts of both FIO and NGIO, and continuing to work closely with the rest of the industry, the group expects to release a 1.0 specification by the end of the year. The new specification will feature a channel-based, switch-fabric design that delivers a unified architecture and protocol.

The "System I/O" group will be hosting a participant event in late September, or early October to update the industry and solicit involvement in the new specification's development.

Member Quotes

Compaq, Paul Santeler
"There is a compelling need to develop a new I/O architecture that can deliver significant improvements in scalability, availability, functionality and performance, while protecting the IT investments of customers," said Paul Santeler vice president of Enterprise X86 Servers at Compaq Computer Corporation. "By bringing the computer industry's market-leading technology companies together in a unified effort, we can develop an open, best of breed technology providing our enterprise customers and industry partners with a clear path for the future. We believe the customer will be the ultimate benefactor of this initiative."

Dell, Bob Van Steenberg
"For some time Dell has been actively focused on creating an industry-standard I/O specification as this benefits both customers and vendors," said Bob Van Steenberg, vice president and general manager, Dell Enterprise Servers. "We feel that the new 'System I/O' architecture will allow us to offer Data Center class solutions that meet a broad range of customer needs well into the next millennium."

Hewlett-Packard, Martin Whittaker
"As an industry leader in high performance, highly available computing, Hewlett-Packard is delighted that we have reached this important milestone for the computer industry," said Martin Whittaker, R&D Manager at Hewlett-Packard's Enterprise Systems & Software Group. 'System I/O' provides a solid platform for standards-based innovation and creates exciting opportunities to solve the exacting I/O and system area networking needs of tomorrow's enterprise customers. This intensifies HP's commitment to leadership using standards-based technologies."

IBM, Tom Bradicich
"IBM and fellow consortium members are on an aggressive schedule to incorporate advanced I/O technologies into their products. Starting with enhanced PCI capability such as ActivePCI and PCI-X, we are improving the functionality while minimizing the disruption to our customers computing environments. IBM will continue to guide the development of new, powerful and reliable I/O standards that foster innovation with 'System I/O'."

Intel, John Miner
"With this merger in technology, Intel can now focus on providing the server I/O throughput required to meet the needs of the growing Internet economy, which requires '24 by 7' availability, speed and flexibility," said John Miner, vice president and general manager of Intel's communications products group. "This new high volume server I/O architecture reflects the needed scalability and reliability, and will complement our high performing Intel-based server building blocks."

Microsoft, Jim Allchin
"The merger of the Future I/O and NGIO initiatives is a key milestone for customers and the industry that will accelerate the development and wide-scale acceptance of a new I/O architecture," said Jim Allchin, senior vice president of the Platforms Group, Microsoft. "This new architecture will enable servers to keep pace with the growing capabilities of Microsoft's enterprise-class software, faster processor speeds and larger distributed environments, and will result in quicker response time for end users."

Sun Microsystems, Greg Papadopoulos
"The single, open standard that will result from this initiative will go a long way in helping satisfy the demand for bandwidth and availability as enterprises and service providers build their infrastructures for the Net economy," said Greg Papadopoulos, vice president and CTO for Sun Microsystems. "Ultimately this will lead to more innovation, more solutions across the industry."

About InfiniBand Trade Association

The Internet is creating an increased demand for server computer I/O subsystem performance, scalability, reliability and flexibility. A shift to a switched fabric-based I/O architecture will enable industry participants to meet this increased demand. The InfiniBand Trade Association developed a specification for a channel-based, switched fabric architecture that provides a scalable performance range of 500 Mbyte/s to 6 Gbyte/s, meeting the needs from entry level to high-end enterprise systems. InfiniBand Trade Association represents the industry's choice for developing I/O technologies that will keep pace with the demands of the Internet age.

	Press Contact:		Member Contact:
	Bilepo Scott		Tom Flynn
	Owen Media, Inc.		InfiniBand Trade Association Administration
	(206) 322-1167		(503) 291-2565
	bilepos@owenmedia.com		administration@infinibandta.org