InfiniBand momentum on the TOP500 continues with 16 percent semi-annual growth, and connects the majority of Top 100 supercomputers

AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 18 -- SC08 -- Mellanox Technologies, Ltd., a leading supplier of semiconductor-based, server and storage interconnect products, today announced that its 40Gb/s InfiniBand switches and adapters now power one of the world's fastest supercomputers, and that InfiniBand continues to be the fastest-growing cluster interconnect represented on the industry's TOP500 list. Among the top 500 supercomputers in the world reported in the 32nd edition of the TOP500 list, 142 systems (28 percent) are connected with InfiniBand, an increase of 16 percent for InfiniBand-based systems compared to the previous TOP500 list published in June 2008.

Mellanox ConnectX 20Gb/s and 40Gb/s InfiniBand adapters and switch systems based on its InfiniScale III and IV switch silicon provide scalable, low-latency, and power-efficient interconnect for the world's fastest supercomputer and the majority of other top 100 systems. Mellanox's proven 40Gb/s InfiniBand is the fastest interconnect technology available, and was first used in a system at Virginia Tech.

The total number of InfiniBand-connected CPU cores on the TOP500 list has grown 153 percent, from 340,000 in 2007 to 860,000 in 2008, which is nearly twice the growth average among the top 500 supercomputers. This highlights increasing demand for InfiniBand (and Mellanox 40Gb/s in particular) as a way to maximize computing resources, productivity and performance in the world's fastest computer systems.

"Mellanox's interconnect products provide leading technology and device architecture for scalable and reliable high-performance and low power consumption, and are proven to optimize the world's most demanding computing and storage applications," said Eyal Waldman, president, chairman and CEO of Mellanox Technologies. "We are pleased that our proven 40Gb/s technology is being fully utilized as the foundation of high-performance research activities, and that our InfiniBand adapters and switches are the leading connectivity solutions for the fastest supercomputers in the world. As the most reliable, scalable, power efficient and highest performing InfiniBand solutions, Mellanox products continue to support the ever-increasing performance needs of world-leading research facilities, educational centers and commercial datacenters."

Published twice a year and publicly available at www.TOP500.org, the TOP500 list ranks the world's most powerful computer systems according to the Linpack benchmark rating system. The TOP500 list is a respected industry report that indicates usage trends in computing and interconnect solutions.

Highlights of InfiniBand usage on the June 2008 TOP500 list include:

• Mellanox InfiniBand interconnect products occupy 4 of the top 10 most prestigious positions.
• All InfiniBand-based clusters (142 total supercomputers) use Mellanox switch silicon and over 95 percent integrate adapter products based on Mellanox silicon.
• InfiniBand is the only industry standard interconnect used in the top 79 (44 total supercomputers) -- all based on Mellanox adapter cards and switch silicon.
• Mellanox InfiniBand interconnect products present in the TOP500 are used by a diverse list of applications, from large-scale, high-performance computing to commercial technical computing and enterprise datacenters.
• The average efficiency of all reported InfiniBand-based supercomputers is 75 percent  (significantly higher than 51 percent for Gigabit Ethernet supercomputers), which reduces power, cooling, cost, floor space and total cost of ownership.
• InfiniBand is the most used interconnect among the top 100 supercomputers with 54 clusters, more than five times the number of Gigabit Ethernet-based clusters (10), and nine times the number of proprietary high speed cluster interconnects.
• The total number of InfiniBand-connected CPU cores on the list has grown from 340,000 in November 2007 to 860,000 in 2008 (153 percent yearly growth), which is nearly double the growth in the total TOP500 list.
• InfiniBand is the only growing clustered interconnect in the TOP500 with a nearly 20 percent growth rate compared to June 2008.
• The total performance of InfiniBand-based systems has grown from 6PFlops to 8.8PFlops (333 percent yearly growth).
• The entry level for the TOP500 list is 12.6TFlops, 113 percent higher than the 5.9TFlops necessary to be on the November 2007 list.

About Mellanox

Mellanox Technologies (NASDAQ: MLNX; TASE: MLNX) is a leading supplier of semiconductor-based, interconnect products to world-class server, storage, and infrastructure OEMs servicing Fortune 500 datacenters, the world's most powerful supercomputers, and mission critical embedded applications. Founded in 1999, Mellanox Technologies is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., and Yokneam, Israel. For more information, visit Mellanox at www.mellanox.com.

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Source: Mellanox Technologies, Ltd.