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NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: ANNE SKAMAROCK on
STORAGE 01/15/02 Today's focus: Whatever happened to InfiniBand? Dear Wincenty Kaminski, In this issue: * How much longer are we to wait for InfiniBand products? * Featured reader resource _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter sponsored by Brocade SANs and Beyond: Exploring the Future of Storage Networking Join the META Group for an insightful look at how emerging technologies should impact your storage infrastructure decisions. Learn how to successfully leverage key drivers like storage virtualization, iSCSI, InfiniBand, the SAN/NAS convergence, and more. Register here for the Web cast: http://nww1.com/go/3808319a.html _______________________________________________________________ PRODUCT INFO IN ONE CONVENIENT LOCATION! Heard about a new product launch? Curious to find out if the features and benefits of this new product will meet your critical business needs? Network World Fusion's Product Central section includes all the info you need to make informed decision about new products and also includes a product finder function. Check it out at http://nww1.com/go/ad216.html _______________________________________________________________ Today's focus: Whatever happened to InfiniBand? By Anne Skamarock It's been mighty quiet on the InfiniBand front these days! It seems not so long ago that vendors were predicting the appearance of InfiniBand products in the second half of 2001. There seems to be quite an echo in the InfiniBand product display rooms today. O.K., the final specification wasn't released until June 2001 and the country had a few other things occupying it in the autumn of 2001, not the least of which was the significant drop in the economy. But I've been hearing about how great InfiniBand is going to be for the last two years! Come on! So you think I'm impatient? Yes I'm impatient! We have CPUs that run at gigahertz rates that are data-starved today because the I/O architecture can't keep up! "Add another host bus adapter, maybe THAT will help!" NOT! For most open-systems computers (yes, even the high-end ones) the internal bus can't keep up. InfiniBand's time is NOW. Why, you ask? Well, let me ask a question back. Why do you think 2G bit/sec Fibre Channel hasn't taken off like a bolt? Let's see... hmmm, perhaps it's because there are no computers that can fill a 2G-bit/sec pipe today. Perhaps most 1G-bit/sec pipes are currently under-used? Which takes me back to last week's "Storage resolutions" newsletter in which I suggested that companies should understand what they have today before buying more storage "stuff." I spoke about disk capacity and left out infrastructure capacity. Take a look at Finisar's QoS product for determining storage-area networking infrastructure capacity. It uses in-line probes to determine actual bandwidth rates form the hosts, through the infrastructure to the storage. It also can tell you if you have oversubscribed your disk logical unit numbers. Getting back to InfiniBand, I can't wait to see the products roll off the line and start to hear customer testimonials. I was hoping these would come as Christmas presents to us all but I guess we'll all have to wait for the dog days of summer. _______________________________________________________________ To contact Anne Skamarock: Anne Skamarock is an analyst with Enterprise Management Associates (http://www.enterprisemanagement.com). She has worked with networked storage for the last 15 years and is currently focused on the storage practice within EMA. She can be reached at mailto:askamarock@enterprisemanagement.com _______________________________________________________________ Get your wireless service from the carrier ranked #1 by Forbes magazine. Now get Unlimited Night & Weekend Minutes, plus up to $165 in savings when you activate on select calling plans and purchase a Nokia 3360 or 8260 from AT&T Wireless. To learn more go to http://nww1.com/go/ad207.html _______________________________________________________________ RELATED EDITORIAL LINKS Finisar http://www.finisar.com/ InfiniBand Trade Association http://www.infinibandta.org/home.php3 Partnerships to dominate CA's plans Network World, 01/14/02 http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2002/128955_01-14-2002.html _______________________________________________________________ FEATURED READER RESOURCE Network World Fusion's Net.Worker site Whether your company is growing larger or scaling back, corporate managers are looking for ways to cut costs while retaining and recruiting star employees. One smart solution - at least on paper - is to let some employees work from home. Network World's Net.Worker Web site bridges the gap between the telework concept and the hardware, software and services needed to make it happen. We bring you news and reviews, sound advice and keen insight into the technologies and solutions you need to manage a remote and mobile workforce. Visit http://www.nwfusion.com/net.worker/index.html _______________________________________________________________ May We Send You a Free Print Subscription? You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered at your fingertips each day. Now, extend your knowledge by receiving 51 FREE issues to our print publication. Apply today at http://www.nwwsubscribe.com/nl _______________________________________________________________ SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World e-mail newsletters, go to: http://www.nwwsubscribe.com/news/scripts/notprinteditnews.asp To unsubscribe from promotional e-mail go to: http://www.nwwsubscribe.com/ep To change your e-mail address, go to: http://www.nwwsubscribe.com/news/scripts/changeemail.asp Subscription questions? Contact Customer Service by replying to this message. Have editorial comments? Write Jeff Caruso, Newsletter Editor, at: mailto:jcaruso@nww.com For advertising information, write Jamie Kalbach, Director of Online Sales, at: mailto:jkalbach@nww.com Copyright Network World, Inc., 2002 ------------------------ This message was sent to: vkamins@enron.com
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