IBTA Plugfest 33 IB HDR 200Gb/s Compliance Testing

The IB Trade Association (IBTA), a global organization dedicated to maintaining and furthering the IB and RoCE specifications, announced the availability of its IB Combined Cable and Device Integrators’ List and RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE) Interoperability List.

Held at the University of New Hampshire Interoperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL), IBTA Plugfest 33 was the first instance that HDR 200Gb/s copper cables were tested for compliance to the IBTA specification, paving the way for the roll-out of HDR clusters in 2019. Additionally, Plugfest 33 was the first event to include both IB EDR and IB FDR interoperability testing, which ensures a high level of satisfaction for deployers of IB solutions.

Key highlights from Plugfest 33:

• Testing Capabilities

  • • New equipment and application software enabled the development of new tests for IB HDR 200Gb/s, including the first HDR 200Gb/s cooper cable tests.

    • First IBTA Plugfest to include both IB EDR 100Gb/s and IB FDR 56Gb/s interoperability testing of copper and optical cables from all major vendors.

• Improved RoCE interoperability testing

  • • 19 RoCE devices and 61 cables were tested in 26 different interoperability scenarios, which involved SFP and QSFP cables running at 10, 25, 40, 50 and 100GbE speeds.

    • 25 new RoCE Transport Layer tests in addition to new DCB tests, leading to improved interoperability between a diverse selection of IBTA member RDMA products.

“The IBTA’s rigorous, independent third-party compliance and interoperability program ensures that each cable and device tested successfully meets end user needs and expectations of IB and RoCE ecosystems,” said Rupert Dance, chair, compliance and interoperability working group (C), IBTA. “The ability of IBTA Plugfest participants to interact with engineers from many device and cable vendors while resolving problems in real time is essential to the success, compliance and interoperability of all IB and RoCE solutions.“

The IBTA Plugfest is a benefit to members and creates a path to deliver to their customers products that are compliant to the IB and RoCE specs and interoperable within the larger ecosystem. Each product that completes compliance and interoperability testingis compiled into the resulting IB Interators’ List and RoCE Interoperability List. The lists are technical resources that provide benefits to all end users deploying RDMA-based fabrics. A range of customers leverage these results when determining which products to use when designing or upgrading their systems.

Vendors that contributed te,equipment to IBTA Plugfest 33 include Ace Unitech, Anritsu, Keysight Technologies, Molex, Software Forge, and Wilder Technologies.

Members that participated in Plugfest 33 include Broadcom, Cavium, Huawei, Finisar, Mellanox, NetApp, and Volex.

Interoperability lists
The following resources provide additional information about the IBTA Integrators’ List Program:
Methods of Implementation (MOI)   
Integrators’ List Policy and Testing Procedures    
Archives of past IB Integrators’ Lists and RoCE  
Save date: IBTA Plugfest 35 will be held April 8 – April 19, 2019 at UNH-IOL.