Editing InfiniBand (section)

== History ==
InfiniBand originated in 1999 from the merger of two competing designs: Future I/O and Next Generation I/O (NGIO). NGIO was led by [[Intel]], with a specification released in 1998,<ref>{{Cite news |title= Intel Introduces Next Generation I/O for Computing Servers |author= Scott Bekker |date= November 11, 1998 |url= https://rcpmag.com/articles/1998/11/11/intel-introduces-next-generation-io-for-computing-servers.aspx |work= Redmond Channel Partner |access-date= September 28, 2021 }}</ref> and joined by [[Sun Microsystems]] and [[Dell]].
Future I/O was backed by  [[Compaq]], [[IBM]], and [[Hewlett-Packard]].<ref>{{Cite news |title= Warring NGIO and Future I/O groups to merge |author= Will Wade |date= August 31, 1999 |work= EE Times |url= https://www.eetimes.com/warring-ngio-and-future-i-o-groups-to-merge/ |access-date= September 26, 2021 }}</ref>
This led to the formation of the InfiniBand Trade Association (IBTA), which included both sets of hardware vendors as well as software vendors such as [[Microsoft]].
At the time it was thought some of the more powerful computers were approaching the [[interconnect bottleneck]] of the [[Peripheral Component Interconnect|PCI]] bus, in spite of upgrades like [[PCI-X]].<ref name=pentakalos>{{cite web|last1=Pentakalos|first1=Odysseas|title=An Introduction to the InfiniBand Architecture|url=http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2002/02/04/windows.html|website=O'Reilly|access-date=28 July 2014}}</ref> Version 1.0 of the InfiniBand Architecture Specification was released in 2000. Initially the IBTA vision for IB was simultaneously a replacement for PCI in I/O, Ethernet in the [[Central apparatus room|machine room]], [[Cluster (computing)|cluster]] interconnect and [[Fibre Channel]]. IBTA also envisaged decomposing server hardware on an IB [[Fabric computing|fabric]].

[[Mellanox]] had been founded in 1999 to develop NGIO technology, but by 2001 shipped an InfiniBand product line called InfiniBridge at 10&nbsp;Gbit/second speeds.<ref name=timeline>{{cite web |title= Timeline |url= http://www.mellanox.com/page/timeline |publisher=Mellanox Technologies |access-date= September 26, 2021 }}</ref>
Following the burst of the [[dot-com bubble]] there was hesitation in the industry to invest in such a far-reaching technology jump.<ref name=kim>{{cite web|last1=Kim|first1=Ted|title=Brief History of InfiniBand: Hype to Pragmatism|url=https://blogs.oracle.com/RandomDude/entry/history_hype_to_pragmatism|publisher=Oracle |access-date= September 28, 2021 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808200954/https://blogs.oracle.com/RandomDude/entry/history_hype_to_pragmatism|archive-date=8 August 2014}}</ref>
By 2002, Intel announced that instead of shipping IB integrated circuits ("chips"), it would focus on developing [[PCI Express]], and Microsoft discontinued IB development in favor of extending Ethernet. [[Sun Microsystems]] and [[Hitachi]] continued to support IB.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sun confirms commitment to InfiniBand |date= December 2, 2002 |author= Computerwire |url= https://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/12/30/sun_confirms_commitment_to_infiniband/ |website=The Register |access-date= September 26, 2021 }}</ref>

In 2003, the [[System X (supercomputer)|System X]] supercomputer built at [[Virginia Tech]]  used InfiniBand in what was estimated to be the third largest computer in the world at the time.<ref>{{Cite news |title= Virginia Tech Builds 10 TeraFlop Computer |url= https://www.rdworldonline.com/virginia-tech-builds-10-teraflop-computer/ |work= R&D World |date= November 30, 2003 |access-date= September 28, 2021 }}</ref>
The [[OpenFabrics Alliance|OpenIB Alliance]] (later renamed OpenFabrics Alliance) was founded in 2004 to develop an open set of software for the [[Linux]] kernel. By February, 2005, the support was accepted into the 2.6.11 Linux kernel.<ref>{{cite news | title= Linux Kernel 2.6.11 Supports InfiniBand |url= http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3485401 |work= Internet News |author= Sean Michael Kerner |date= February 24, 2005 |access-date= September 28, 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news| title= OpenIB Alliance Achieves Acceptance By Kernel.org |url= https://www.hpcwire.com/2005/01/21/openib-alliance-achieves-acceptance-by-kernel-org/ |work= Press release |date= January 21, 2005 |author= OpenIB Alliance |access-date= September 28, 2021 }}</ref>
In November 2005 storage devices finally were released using InfiniBand from vendors such as Engenio.<ref name="comeback">{{Citation | url = http://www.infostor.com/index/articles/display/248655/articles/infostor/volume-10/issue-2/news-analysis-trends/news-analysis-trends/is-infiniband-poised-for-a-comeback.html | title = Is InfiniBand poised for a comeback? | journal = Infostor |author= Ann Silverthorn |volume = 10 | issue = 2 |date= January 12, 2006 |access-date= September 28, 2021 }}</ref>
Cisco, desiring to keep technology superior to Ethernet off the market, adopted a "buy to kill" strategy. Cisco successfully killed InfiniBand switching companies such as Topspin via acquisition.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Connor |first1=Deni |title=What Cisco-Topspin deal means for InfiniBand |url=https://www.networkworld.com/article/863883/data-center-what-cisco-topspin-deal-means-for-infiniband.html |website=Network World |access-date=19 June 2024 |language=en}}</ref> {{Citation needed|reason=Given citation doesn't support the allegation|date=August 2024}}

Of the top 500 supercomputers in 2009, [[Gigabit Ethernet]] was the internal interconnect technology in 259 installations, compared with 181 using InfiniBand.<ref>{{cite web |last1= Lawson |first1= Stephen |title= Two rival supercomputers duke it out for top spot |url= https://www.computerworld.com/article/2521602/two-rival-supercomputers-duke-it-out-for-top-spot.html |date= November 16, 2009 |work= Computerworld |access-date= September 29, 2021 |archive-date= September 29, 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210929213924/https://www.computerworld.com/article/2521602/two-rival-supercomputers-duke-it-out-for-top-spot.html |url-status= dead }}</ref>
In 2010, market leaders Mellanox and Voltaire merged, leaving just one other IB vendor, [[QLogic]], primarily a [[Fibre Channel]] vendor.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Raffo|first1=Dave|title=Largest InfiniBand vendors merge; eye converged networks|url=http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/storage-soup/largest-infiniband-vendors-merge-eye-converged-networks/|access-date=29 July 2014|archive-date=1 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701002647/http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/storage-soup/largest-infiniband-vendors-merge-eye-converged-networks/|url-status=dead}}</ref> 
At the 2011 [[International Supercomputing Conference]], links running at about 56 gigabits per second (known as FDR, see below), were announced and demonstrated by connecting booths in the trade show.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.cio.com/article/684732/Mellanox_Demos_Souped_Up_Version_of_Infiniband |title = Mellanox Demos Souped-Up Version of InfiniBand |work= CIO |author= Mikael Ricknäs |date= June 20, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-date= April 6, 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120406182103/http://www.cio.com/article/684732/Mellanox_Demos_Souped_Up_Version_of_Infiniband |access-date= September 30, 2021 }}</ref>
In 2012, Intel acquired QLogic's InfiniBand technology, leaving only one independent supplier.<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.hpcwire.com/2012/01/23/intel_snaps_up_infiniband_technology_product_line_from_qlogic/ | title = Intel Snaps Up InfiniBand Technology, Product Line from QLogic |work= HPCwire |author= Michael Feldman |date= January 23, 2012 |access-date= September 29, 2021 }}</ref>

By 2014, InfiniBand was the most popular internal connection technology for supercomputers, although within two years, [[10 Gigabit Ethernet]] started displacing it.<ref name="down"/>

In 2016, it was reported that [[Oracle Corporation]] (an investor in Mellanox) might engineer its own InfiniBand hardware.<ref name="oracle"/>

In 2019 [[Nvidia]] acquired Mellanox, the last independent supplier of InfiniBand products.<ref>{{Cite news |title= Nvidia to Acquire Mellanox for $6.9 Billion |date= March 11, 2019 |work= Press release |url= https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/nvidia-to-acquire-mellanox-for-6-9-billion |access-date= September 26, 2021 }}</ref>