Network test identifies 3 top issues in high performance computing critical for cloud, storage

PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 18 -- Congestion avoidance fabrics in High Performance Computing are mission critical to cloud and storage migration, according to an industry-first benchmark conducted by David Newman of Network Test Inc., validating Gnodal's ASIC-powered Layer 2 switch fabric.

Network Test, the independent test lab and engineering services consultancy, identified three value imperatives for high performance datacenters essential to solving conventional congestion challenges:

#1) Custom ASIC Architecture

Gnodal has developed a unique way to eliminate network congestion within a multi-switch Ethernet framework that effectively frees up available bandwidth in the network fabric. At the heart of Gnodal's technology is a customized chip, the Gnodal Peta ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) -- designed and developed by Gnodal in Bristol, England -- which encapsulates significant intellectual property supporting a number of multi-path, loop-free routing techniques that combine to deliver industry-leading performance and throughput.

#2) Congestion Avoidance Fabric

In the analysis performed by Network Test, the Gnodal fabric significantly improved performance in the case of typical and extreme network congestion by negotiating load-balancing flows between switches with no performance hit. Using a unique Gnodal-tagged frame, ensuing congestive traffic is prevented from consuming all network resources: The result is free and fast delivery of uncongested traffic.

#3) Fairness Algorithmic Priority

The Gnodal fabric implements a unique feedback system exchanging pre-emptive tokens predicated on congestion avoidance so that control information about the usage of out-going (egress) ports can be applied to the incoming (ingress) ports allowing data packets to be routed properly and efficiently, otherwise avoiding hot-spots in the network. Gnodal's implementation of a 'fairness' algorithm operating across a multi-stage switch fabric, prioritizes packets in the network and ensures that broadcast data or other large frame traffic, such as localized storage sub-systems, will not unfairly consume bandwidth.

"Even in datacenters, bandwidth is finite, and enterprise networks must meet constantly changing demands," explained David Newman, president of Network Test. "These tests validated the ability of the Gnodal fabric to prioritize key traffic flows in heavily congested cases, such as a 400 percent overload."

"As networks evolve in ad hoc directions and demands, requiring more storage and NIC adaptors, legacy network architecture itself often acts to slow down overall data transfer rates," said Atchison Frazer, CMO of Gnodal. "Gnodal's revolutionary architecture for switching fabrics provides a clear and deterministic pathway to overcoming the inherent problems of congestion in the network, while proactively protecting users, network managers and organizations from the devastating risk of network failure."

The test results of the Gnodal congestion avoidance fabric by Network Test can be downloaded here:
http://www.slideshare.net/jafrazer/gnodal-congestion-avoidance-validation-network-test

About Gnodal

The Gnodal ASIC Ethernet switch architecture features a congestion-aware performance and workload engine that allows for ultra-low latency transmission while utilizing a dynamic, fully adaptive load-balancing mechanism to equitably arbitrate a pre-emptive pathway for large data-sets, high computational applications and massive storage demands prevalent in HPC and Big Data environments. The 72-port 40 GbE "fabric in a box" GS0072 solution extends Gnodal's leadership in port density ToR solutions and won the best-in-class award for networking at Interop 2012 (http://www.bestofinterop.com/winners/).

For automated trading infrastructure in financial services markets, Gnodal's high performance network fabric delivers industry-leading speed to help reduce latencies across trading platforms. Gnodal's highest port density 1U and 2U ToR switches are ideally suited for deployment within co-location environments and enterprise datacenters among financial institutions and exchanges. On ingress into GS-Series switching, the initial latency is sub-150 nanoseconds (store/forward) with each subsequent Gnodal switch added to the fabric incurring only 66 nanoseconds of additional latency (cut-through).

For more information about Gnodal, visit www.gnodal.com.

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Source: Gnodal