HPC User Site Census: All Networks — June 2017

June 30, 2017|Addison Snell, Christopher G. Willard Ph.D., Laura Segervall

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report, part of the Intersect360 Research Site Census series, provides an examination of the server interconnects and network characteristics found
at a sample of HPC user sites. Intersect360 Research surveyed a broad range of users about their current computer system installations, storage systems,
networks, middleware, and software supporting these computer installations.

The goal in this analysis of networks is to examine the installations by network type and by supplier across the three locales (system, storage, and LAN)
within the HPC user communities.

Key findings of the survey include the following:

Ethernet and InfiniBand are the two primary network protocols that compete across all three locales: system interconnects, storage networks, and LANs.
Ethernet is the most prevalent for all three locales when data rates are disregarded. For the higher performance interconnects, InfiniBand (40G
in particular) continues to be used in the greatest number of systems reported in our study.
About two-thirds of the surveyed sites reported both Ethernet and InfiniBand installed at their site.
10 Gigabit Ethernet has the most representation for storage networks, capturing the upgrade business from Gigabit Ethernet, and surpassing InfiniBand
installations.
Mellanox is the supplier used most often for system interconnects, with 42% of mentions, and also for storage networks, with 35% of mentions. Cisco
continues to be the leading supplier for the LAN market, with 46% of the mentions.
Mellanox gained share in every locale. Mellanox accounted for 42% share of system interconnects reported in 2016 versus 40% last year, 35% share of
storage networks in 2016 versus 28% in 2015, and 13% LANs versus 11% in 2015.
Ethernet, as expected, accounts for the majority of LAN network implementations reported at these sites, with both 10 Gigabit Ethernet and Gigabit
Ethernet each accounting for 35% of the mentions. In this report, 10 Gigabit Ethernet nudge slightly ahead two more LANs reported than Gigabit
Ethernet. We expect Gigabit Ethernet will slowly decline in share over the coming years.

COMPANIES MENTIONED IN THIS REPORT

• Ace Computers

• Amazon Web Services

• Arista

• Aspen

• Asus

• AT&T

• Atipa

• Avaya – Nortel

• BNC

• Broadcom

• Brocade

• Cisco Systems

• CITRIX

• Cray

• DataDirect Networks

• Dell EMC

• Digisol

• D-Link

• Edgecore

• Emulex

• Eurotech

• Extreme Networks

• Flextronics

• Fujitsu

• H3C

• Hewlett Packard Enterprise

• Huawei

• IBM

• Intel

• Juniper Networks

• Lenovo

• Linksys

• Linktel

• Mellanox

• Micro Focus

• Microway

• Mikrotik

• Myricom

• NetAPP

• NetGear

• Oracle

• Penguin Computing

• Qlogic

• Qualcom

• Quanta

• SGI

• SMC Networks

• SolarFlare

• Supermicro

• Tikona

• Trendnet

• TrueScale

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED IN THIS REPORT

• HPC system elements

• Systems, clusters

• Storage elements

• Storage systems

• Interconnect elements

• System interconnects

• Storage interconnects

• LAN interconnects

• Interconnect standards

• Ethernet

• InfiniBand

• Fibre Channel

• Other interconnect standards

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1

COMPANIES MENTIONED IN THIS REPORT 2

TECHNOLOGIES COVERED IN THIS REPORT 3

INTRODUCTION 5

RESULTS AND ANALYSIS 6

Comparison of Network Types Across Three Locales 6

Table 1: Installed Interconnect and Network at Three Locales 7

Figure 1: Share of Sites by Protocol 8

Figure 2: Share of Sites using Ethernet and InfiniBand by Locale 9

Interconnect/Network Suppliers at Each Locale 10

Table 2: Top Named Suppliers Installed at Three Locales 10

CONCLUSIONS 11

Figure 3: Transition to Higher Speed for InfiniBand System Interconnects 11

Figure 4: System Interconnect, Storage Network, and LAN Suppliers 12

Appendix A: Suppliers of Networks by Locale 13

Table A1: Suppliers of Interconnects and Networks by Locale, Total Sites 13

Appendix B: Methodology and Demographics 15

Methodology 15

Demographics 16

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