Intel Corporation announced at Supercomputing 2002 the largest InfiniBand cluster test bed built yet. The 128-node cluster housed at Los Alamos National Laboratory is powered by InfiniBand adapters and Intel processor-based computer systems from Pro Micro. The cluster will initially will be used for InfiniBand software stack validation and hardware testing, and ultimately will be available for protocol research and development.

The InfiniBand cluster project utilizes 128 computers from ProMicro Systems, each containing dual Intel Xeon processors and utilizing InfiniBand Host Channel Adapters, configured together within a 4X InfiniBand fabric. The cluster uses the Linux operating system.

InfiniBand architecture is a new I/O technology that improves that way data centers will be built, deployed and managed. The 1.0 InfiniBand specifications were completed in October 2000. Solutions based on InfiniBand architecture are expected in the market early next year. Intel is a co-chair of the InfiniBand Trade Association.

Los Alamos National Laboratory is operated by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration. Los Alamos researchers are using InfiniBand architecture to build scalable, reliable clusters using industry standard technology.