The QLogic 12200-BS21, 12800-040, and 12800-180 are 36-port, 72-port, and 324-port Quad Data Rate (QDR, 40 GB) InfiniBand switches, respectively, designed for cost-effective linking resources into a cluster or providing an edge switch option for a large fabric. Clients can tailor the modular product to meet present and future needs. The QLogic 12200-BS21, 12800-040, and 12800-180 are a series of products that deliver high-speed networking features and functions.

InfiniBand is an industry-standard high-performance interconnect for clusters and enterprise grids. This industry-standard fabric creates clusters that address many of the requirements, such as those found in scientific, technical, and financial applications. InfiniBand solutions are designed for high availability and can also deliver the scalability required by distributed database processing.

The QLogic 12200-BS21 is a 36-port, 40 Gbps InfiniBand switch that cost-effectively links workgroup resources into a cluster. This compact 1U solution is used for building small node count fabrics. Included in the switch are redundant power supplies, power cords, a rack mount kit, and the QLogic InfiniBand Fabric Suite. The QLogic 12800-040 is a 72-port, 40 Gbps InfiniBand switch that links resources using a scalable, low-latency fabric. The 12800-040 supports up to four 18-port QDR leaf modules. Included in the switch are redundant QDR Management Modules, redundant power supplies, redundant fans, power cords, a rack mount kit, and the QLogic InfiniBand Fabric Suite. The QLogic 12800-180 is a 324-port 40 Gbps InfiniBand switch designed to maintain larger clusters, supporting up to eighteen 18-port QDR leaf modules. Included in the 12800-180 are redundant QDR Management Modules, a full complement of Management Modules to provide a 100% nonblocking fabric for all ports, redundant power supplies, redundant fans, power cords, rack mount kit, and QLogic InfiniBand Fabric Suite.

These new QDR high-performance server switches enable you to form high-performance clusters and grids that deliver the performance required for you to realize the full potential of your applications and systems.

Figure 1 shows the QLogic 12200 QDR InfiniBand switch.

Figure 1. QLogic 12200 QDR InfiniBand switch


Did you know

QLogic 12800 and 12200 InfiniBand switches series are part of the IBM® Power Systems™ Cluster. The IBM Power Systems Cluster is a fully integrated HPC solution. IBM clustering solutions include servers, storage, and industry-leading OEM interconnects that are factory-integrated, fully tested, and delivered to your door, ready to plug into your data center, all with a single point of contact for support.


Part number information

Table 1 shows the part numbers to order these modules and additional options for them.

• The 12800-180 provides 324 QDR ports using 18-port Ultra-High Performance (UHP) leaf modules in a 14U chassis.
• The 12800-040 provides 72 QDR ports using 18-port UHP leaf modules in a 5U chassis.
• The 12200-BS21 provides 36 QDR ports a 1U chassis.

• Low latency: The QLogic 12800 and 12200 provide scalable, predictable low latency, even at 90% traffic use. Predictable latency means that HPC applications can be scaled easily without worrying about diminished cluster performance or costly system-tuning efforts.
• Flexible partitioning: The QLogic 12800 and 12200 advanced design are based on an architecture that provides comprehensive virtual fabric partitioning capabilities that enable the InfiniBand fabric to support the evolving requirements of an organization. The TrueScale architecture, together with IFS, allows the fabric to be shared by mission-critical applications while delivering maximum bandwidth utilization.
• Modular design: InfiniBand port, power, cooling, and management modules are common in the series, giving customers the flexibility to deploy and grow HPC environments in a cost-effective fashion.
• Investment protection: The QLogic 12800 and 12200 adheres to the InfiniBand Trade Association Version 1.2 specification, ensuring the ability to interoperate with all other IBTA-compliant devices.
• Highly reliable: This system is designed for high availability with features that include port-to-port and module-to-module failover, non-disruptive firmware upgrades, component-level diagnostics and alarming, and both in-band and out-of-band management.
• Easy to manage: The 12800 and 12200 use QLogic’s advanced IFS software for quicker installation and configuration. IFS has advanced tools to verify fabric configuration, topology, and performance. Faults are automatically isolated to the component level and reported.
• Simple installation and configuration: Using the installation and configuration wizards contained in the IFS package allows users to bring up fabrics in days instead of weeks.
• Power optimized: Maximum performance is delivered with minimal power and cooling requirements as part of QLogic’s Star Power commitment to developing green solutions for the data center.

• Between 36 and 324 ports of InfiniBand QDR (40 Gbps) performance with support for DDR and SDR
• 40/20/10 Gbps auto-negotiation links
• Supports Quad Small Form Factor Pluggable (QSFP) optical cable specifications
• TrueScale architecture, with scalable, predictable low latency
• Scales to 25.92 Tbps aggregate bandwidth
• Switching latency: 140 to 420 ns
• Multiple virtual lanes (VLs) per physical port
• Virtual lanes: Eight plus one management
• Maximum MTU size: 4096 bytes
• Maximum multicast table size: 1024 entries
• Supports virtual fabric partitioning
• Fully redundant system design
• Option to use UHD leafs for maximum connectivity and performance (only on QLogic 12800 switches)
• UHP module: 18 QDR ports
• Redundant QDR managed spine modules (only on QLogic 12800-180 switch) -- a full complement of spine modules to provide a 100% nonblocking fabric for all ports
• Integrated chassis management capabilities for installation, configuration, and ongoing monitoring
• Optional InfiniBand Fabric Suite (IFS) management solution that provides expanded fabric views and fabric tools
• Complies with InfiniBand Trade Association (IBTA) Version 1.2 standard

• Thirty-six ports of InfiniBand QDR (40 Gbps) performance with support for DDR and SDR
• 40/20/10-Gbps auto-negotiation links
• Supports Quad Small Form Factor Pluggable (QSFP) optical cable specifications
• TrueScale architecture, with scalable, predictable low latency
• 2.88 Tbps aggregate bandwidth
• Switching latency: < 140 ns
• Multiple Virtual Lanes (VLs) per physical port
• Virtual lanes: Eight plus one management
• Maximum MTU size: 4096 bytes
• Maximum multicast table size: 1024 entries
• Supports virtual fabric partitioning
• Redundant power (12200 models 0449-028 and 0449-029)
• External chassis management via optional InfiniBand Fabric Suite (IFS) management solution, which provides an expanded set of fabric views and fabric tools.
• Complies with InfiniBand Trade Association (IBTA) Version 1.2 standard

• Eighteen to 324 ports
• 25.92 Tbps switching capacity
• Supports up to 18 leaf modules

• Eighteen to 96 ports
• 5.76 Tbps switching capacity
• Supports up to 4 leaf modules

• Command-line interface
• Optional external server-based InfiniBand-compliant subnet manager
• Optional embedded fabric management
• IBTA-compliant SMA, PMA, and BMA
• Chassis management GUI
• SNMP support
• Access methods
• 10/100 Ethernet Base-T
• Serial port (RS-232 with DB9)

• 36 ports
• 5.76 Tbps switching capacity

• QLogic InfiniBand Fabric Suite
• Optional external server-based InfiniBand compliant subnet manager
• IBTA compliant SMA and PMA

• IBM US Announcement Letter (April 12, 2011)
  http://ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?infotype=dd&subtype=ca&&htmlfid=897/ENUS111-059
• IBM US Summary Announcement Letter (October 12, 2011)
  http://ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?infotype=AN&subtype=CA&htmlfid=897/ENUSC11-043
• Information and publications for the IBM Cluster systems
  http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/clusters/
• QLogic 12200 series product page
  http://www.qlogic.com/Products/Switches/Pages/InfiniBandSwitches.aspx