What is "infiniband"

InfiniBand (abbreviated IB), a computer-networking communications standard used in high-performance computing, features very high throughput and very low latency. It is used for data interconnect both among and within computers. InfiniBand is also utilized as either a direct, or switched interconnect between servers and storage systems, as well as an interconnect between storage systems.

As of 2014 it was the most commonly used interconnect in supercomputers. Mellanox and Intel manufacture InfiniBand host bus adapters and network switches, and in February 2016 it was reported that Oracle Corporation had engineered its own Infiniband switch units and server adapter chips for use in its own product lines and by third parties. Mellanox IB cards are available for Solaris, RHEL, SLES, Windows, HP-UX, VMware ESX. It is designed to be scalable and uses a switched fabric network topology.

As an interconnect, IB competes with Ethernet, Fibre Channel, and proprietary technologies such as Cray's SeaStar.

The technology is promoted by the InfiniBand Trade Association.