Scalable, switched circuit LAN for Gb/S channels with over Tb/S total capacity.

摘要

To keep abreast of increasing high performance computing requirements at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), the High Performance Switching System (HPSS) Project is currently prototyping a circuit switched Local Area Network (LAN). This network will employ the set of protocols being defined by the ANSI Fibre Channel Standard (FCS). The effort to build a LAN is a collaborative one with several industrial partners developing the enabling technologies. Through the HPSS Project, LLNL has taken the catalytic role for the development and integration of these technologies into a gigabit/sec LAN technology. Out of this collaborative development effort will come a gigabit/sec networking technology that will be readily available to the academic, industrial, and scientific communities. Once we have a successfully operating prototype and have investigated other gigabit/sec networking alternatives, we will go to an open bid to provide access for over 2,000 users of supercomputers and high performance workstations. The results of our prototype evaluation should aid us in building and maintaining the large scale gigabit/sec local area network necessary for high performance computing at LLNL.