February 17, 2009 -- Mellanox Technologies announced the immediate availability of its BridgeX gateway platform. Based on the company's Virtual Protocol Interconnect (VPI) technology, the platform integrates support for 40 Gb/s InfiniBand, 10 Gigabit Ethernet and up to 8 Gb/s Fibre Channel interfaces, delivering full wire-speed performance with simplified management in a single device.
For use with the Mellanox ConnectX adapters and switches, the BridgeX platform is designed to provide end-to-end networking consolidation for building green data centers and high-performance clustering. According to the company, with BridgeX, data centers will be able to retain the value of legacy storage and Ethernet systems, while maximizing overall efficiency and guaranteeing a future-proof infrastructure.
The platform enables independent scaling of I/O nodes and LAN connections to accommodate future data center demands, and is also suitable for use with blade servers where it can be paired with a 10 Gigabit Ethernet or InfiniBand switch blade to provide Fibre Channel SAN connectivity from an FCoE or Fibre Channel over InfiniBand (FCoIB)-based network adapter.
"BridgeX delivers a fabric-agnostic I/O consolidation solution that allows end-users to optimize the data center infrastructure to run applications over high-performance, lossless, low-latency 40Gb/s InfiniBand or 10 Gigabit Ethernet," says Eyal Waldman, chairman, president, and CEO of Mellanox Technologies. "BridgeX is the first silicon solution for Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) that allows Ethernet switch vendors to offer the most effective I/O consolidation solutions to data centers."
"We are seeing more interest in converged I/O solutions among companies who want to improve efficiency and reduce energy and management costs, and BridgeX looks to be a strong offering in this area," adds Stephen L. Josselyn, research director, global enterprise server solutions, at IDC. "By bridging Ethernet, Fibre Channel, and InfiniBand on a single 40-Gigabit fabric, Mellanox is making it possible for companies to migrate to a converged, higher-speed data center fabric without abandoning legacy investments in adapters and switches."
Mellanox BridgeX silicon devices are available now. The BridgeX-based BX line of gateway systems are available for purchase starting at a list price of $9,995. Mellanox will be demonstrating the BridgeX BX4000, as well as the ConnectX adapters, during VMworld Europe in Cannes, France, from February 24-26.
On the Web:
www.mellanox.com