PR Newswire
Nov 15, 2005 08:30 ET

Broadcom Demonstrates Windows-Based Solution for HPC Applications at Supercomputing 2005

Combination of Broadcom(R) RDMA Over Ethernet C-NIC Technology and Microsoft Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 Improves Performance for Widely Deployed Ethernet Networking Environments Supporting HPC Applications

SEATTLE, Supercomputing 2005, Nov. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ:BRCM) , a global leader in wired and wireless broadband communications semiconductors, today announced that its RDMA over Ethernet functionality within its converged network interface controllers (C-NICs) now works in conjunction with Microsoft Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003. The combination of Broadcom's C-NIC technology and Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 will help to drive and accelerate the adoption of high-performance computing (HPC) applications while validating Ethernet as the primary interconnect technology for clustering high volume standard servers in server-to-server networks. A demonstration of the Broadcom(R) C-NIC technology working with Microsoft Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 will occur in Booth # 6117 at this week's Supercomputing 2005 conference.

Most HPC applications require parallel distributed processing for number crunching computer-aided design (CAD), complex simulations for oil and gas or molecular level analysis, high-end modeling and complex design rendering to name a few. These HPC applications traditionally use one of several available interconnect technologies, with Ethernet being the most widely used. However, in the past, Ethernet had not been optimized for HPC environments because it lacked the direct application to hardware access that allows data transfer to by-pass the operating system kernel. With Broadcom's RDMA over Ethernet C-NIC technology, the latency issues of Ethernet have been improved significantly to boast a high bandwidth, low-latency interconnect solution that is ideally suited for the majority of HPC applications.

Microsoft Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 is designed to reduce time to insight by providing an HPC platform that is simple to deploy, operate and integrate with existing infrastructure and tools. Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 is a complete clustering platform that enables multiple servers to achieve parallel processing. It works in conjunction with Microsoft's Windows Socket Direct protocol to reduce latency when communicating with other servers. As the RDMA implementation built within Windows Server 2003, Windows Socket Direct enables the kernel by-pass within the operating system, thereby significantly reducing the latency of sending and receiving data from other servers.

"The combination of Broadcom's C-NIC hardware and RDMA software, along with Microsoft Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003, provides a comprehensive and scalable HPC solution for the industry," said Greg Young, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom's High-Speed Controller Line of Business. "The RDMA C-NIC demonstration at Supercomputing proves to IT professionals that they can significantly simplify and reduce costs associated with their HPC applications using a standard Ethernet fabric."

"It's important for customers in commercial industries and the public sector to have access to a software platform that provides secure and integrated infrastructure and support for a broad range of applications," said Kyril Faenov, Director of High Performance Computing, Microsoft Corporation. "Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003, in combination with Broadcom's RDMA C-NIC solution, enables customers to leverage their existing Ethernet and Microsoft Active Directory infrastructures, as well as their existing Visual Studio development environments."

C-NIC Product Description

Broadcom's NetXtreme II(TM) C-NIC technology (including the BCM5706, BCM5708C and BCM5708S) is positioned to drastically change the way that servers are built and deployed in the future. Before C-NICs, a standard server equipped with current Ethernet controller silicon could not simultaneously run network, storage and cluster traffic over a single Ethernet fabric as that capability would require dedicated CPUs to operate the network at the full line rate. By converging disparate network traffic over Ethernet, Broadcom's NetXtreme II C-NICs enable a lower total cost of ownership versus configuring and running separate and disparate networks.

While running over a standard Ethernet network, Broadcom's C-NIC technology enables network protocol processing to be offloaded from the host to the C-NIC, thereby sparing the server's CPU, memory and I/O resources to perform their primary tasks. The NetXtreme II family of C-NICs enables IT professionals to simplify their networking by providing network, storage and clustering capabilities over existing and familiar TCP/IP and Ethernet infrastructures, while boosting server performance through a 5x improvement in CPU utilization. By maintaining aggressive price points, Broadcom's single-chip C-NIC solutions yield reduced acquisition costs and increased server performance, enabling broad server LOM adoption.

About Broadcom

Broadcom Corporation is a global leader in wired and wireless broadband communications semiconductors. Our products enable the convergence of high-speed data, high definition video, voice and audio at home, in the office and on the go. Broadcom provides manufacturers of computing and networking equipment, digital entertainment and broadband access products, and mobile devices with the industry's broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art system-on-a-chip and software solutions. These solutions support our core mission: Connecting everything(R).

Broadcom is one of the world's largest fabless semiconductor companies, with annual revenue of more than $2 billion. The company is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., with offices and research facilities in North America, Asia and Europe. Broadcom may be contacted at 1-949-450-8700 or at www.broadcom.com.

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Source: Broadcom Corporation; BRCM Enterprise Networking

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