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*STTR Project: Multi-Gigabit OS Bypass System for Grid
Computing—SeaFire Micros, Inc.,
Mr. James Michael Awrach, Principal Investigator, jma@seafire.com
Mr. James Michael Awrach, Business Official, jma@seafire.com
DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-04ER86204
Amount: $749,945
Research Institution
The
Upon
transmitting or receiving messages, the classical network interface card (NIC)
generates an interrupt to the operating system kernel and thus to the host
processor, which must service the interrupt. However, as network speeds approach 10 - 20
Gigabits per second and beyond, the host can be tied down with interrupt
latency. To solve this problem, this
project will develop new Operating Systems (OS) Bypass hardware and software
that implements a variation of Remote Direct Data Placement (RDDP). The architecture will be modular (allowing
for multiple component sources) and scalable (to handle bandwidths from 10
through 40 Gigabits per second) while providing true OS Bypass performance. In Phase I, an architecture capable of
sustaining scalable bandwidth was developed. New 10 Gbps NPU simulators, capable of
supporting the new NPU subsystems, were constructed and tested. Feasibility was proven through network
processor simulation using RDDP over dual 10 Gbps NPU's per NIC, for 20 Gbps
full-duplex offload per NIC. In Phase
II, the architecture will be used as a basis for developing a prototype, which
will be tested and verified for packets and full-duplex data rates from OC-192
to 2 x OC-192.
Commercial Applications And Other Benefits as described by the awardee: The RDDP OS Bypass protocol firmware should benefit the entire Grid Computing community, and sales of related offload engine products should allow scalable, complete offload engines to be introduced into the Grid market. Applications include ultra high-speed offload engine capabilities for Grid Computing and for cluster computing, GridFTP Lite compatibile offload engines, long-haul WAN NIC’s with FEC, TeraGrid Cluster WAN’s, and Blade Servers.