InfiniBand is a powerful new architecture designed to support I/O connectivity for the Internet
infrastructure. InfiniBand is supported by all the major OEM server vendors as a means to
expand beyond and create the next generation I/O interconnect standard in servers. For the first
time, a high volume, industry standard I/O interconnect extends the role of traditional “in the
box” busses. InfiniBand is unique in providing both, an “in the box” backplane solution, an
external interconnect, and “Bandwidth Out of the box”, thus it provides connectivity in a way previously reserved only for traditional networking interconnects. This unification of I/O and system
area networking requires a new architecture that supports the needs of these two previously separate domains.
