Overview

Started in 1993, the TOP500 lists the fastest computers used today, ranked according to Linpack benchmark results. Published twice a year, the TOP500 list provides an important tool for tracking usage trends in high-performance computing.  The 31st TOP500 List was released in Dresden, Germany during the ISC'08 conference.

TOP500 31st List Highlights
InfiniBand interconnect adoption is faster than any other interconnect technology, and is the most used high-speed connectivity solution. Mellanox's ConnectX 20Gb/s InfiniBand adapters and switch systems based on its InfiniScale switch silicon provide the leading, scalable, low-latency, high-performance interconnect for the #1 fastest supercomputer on the Top500, National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Roadrunner, the world’s first Petaflop supercomputer.

Highlights of InfiniBand usage on the June 2008 TOP500 list include:

• Mellanox InfiniBand interconnect products occupy 5 of the top 10 most prestigious positions
• All InfiniBand-based clusters utilize Mellanox switch silicon and over 95% integrate adapter products based on Mellanox silicon
• InfiniBand is the only industry standard interconnect used in the Top58 (29 total supercomputers) – all based on Mellanox adapter cards and switch silicon
  Mellanox InfiniBand interconnect products present in the TOP500 are used by a diverse list of applications, from large-scale high-performance computing to commercial technical computing and enterprise data centers
• The average efficiency of all reported InfiniBand-based supercomputers is 73% (significantly higher than 53% for Gigabit Ethernet supercomputers) reducing power, cooling, cost, floor space and total cost of ownership
• InfiniBand is the most used interconnect in the Top100 supercomputers with 49 clusters, more than 6X the number of Gigabit Ethernet based clusters (8), and nearly 5X the number of proprietary high speed cluster  interconnects
• The total number of InfiniBand connected CPU cores on the list has grown from 340,000 in November 2007 to 607,000 in 2008 (78% half-yearly growth).  This growth is nearly 2X the growth in the total TOP500 list, which highlights InfiniBand’s world leading scalability
• InfiniBand is the only growing clustered interconnect in the Top100 with nearly a 30% growth rate compared to Nov 2007 and 180% compared to June 2007
  The total performance of InfiniBand based systems has grown from 2PFlops to 6PFlops (196% yearly growth). This growth is 3X the growth in the total TOP500 list, which highlights the increasing demand for InfiniBand to maximize computing resources and performance
• The number of InfiniBand-based supercomputers is more than 7 times the number of supercomputers using other high-speed interconnects combined (> 1 Gb/s)
• The entry-level for the TOP500 list is 8.9TFlops, 150% higher than the 5.9TFlops necessary to be on the November 2007 list, indicating the explosive market demands for more efficient and scalable computing enabled by Mellanox’s interconnect products

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