ADVA Optical's FSP 3000 Now IBM Mainframe Compliant

ADVA Optical Networking has announced the successful completion of interoperability testing and qualification of its FSP 3000 platform for a new version of IBM’s mainframe clustering protocol. This protocol is based on InfiniBand for the IBM (News - Alert) system z Geographically Dispersed Parallel Sysplex (GDPS) environments.

Introduced as the next-generation high-bandwidth, low-latency interconnect, the Parallel Sysplex InfiniBand (PSIFB) further enhances synchronization of System z servers and follow-ons.

 

These links offer the capacity to be extended over the ADVA (News - Alert) FSP 3000 platform up to 100km and will be transparent and support auto negotiation between hosts running single data rate (SDR, 2.5Gbit/s) and double data rate (DDR, 5.0Gbit/s) link speeds.

“This qualification is the result of close cooperation with IBM," explained Christian Illmer, senior director of enterprise application solution management at ADVA Optical Networking (News - Alert), in a company statement.

"ADVA Optical Networking has always focused on introducing technologies that support high-bandwidth applications with the lowest latency for areas like real-time stock trading, medical image analysis, server clustering and more.”

“For these areas, InfiniBand is a cost-effective solution, available today, with proven technology. This work represents investment protection for customers who already have ADVA Optical Networking solutions in IBM mainframe environments," added Illmer.

Customers worldwide are continuing to invest in the IBM System z mainframe, which powers the top 50 banks throughout the world. With the consistent growth in demand for this mainframe, IBM has been able to nearly double its market share this decade.

ADVA Optical Networking has been qualified to use PSIFB to connect two mainframes across distances of as much as 100km. In the past, IBM used PSIFB solely inside the mainframe and another protocol had to be used to connect multiple mainframes.

The use of PSIFB now allows for the elimination of latency caused by protocol conversion. It also enables a more efficient transfer of data, more timely delivery and more accurate synchronization of information between mainframes.

A GDPS-based installation is designed to be a comprehensive disaster recovery and business continuity solution. By combing the characteristics of high availability and near-continuous operations, the solution delivers high levels of service.

"InfiniBand-based links provide the ideal combination of high performance and low latency for our GDPS/PPRC environment," explained Dr. Casimer DeCusatis, distinguished engineer of the IBM System and Technology Group, in the company statement.

"These are must-have benefits when it comes to synchronous applications for high-end clustering, business continuity, disaster recovery and grid computing -- all of which are increasingly important services for the New Enterprise Data Center."

Considering the strong growth of the IBM System z mainframe in this decade, the announcement of interoperability of the ADVA Optical Networking FSP 3000 platform is significant in that the company can take advantage of significant market opportunity. 

The demand for the data center is changing as companies are putting more pressure on providers such as IBM to deliver synchronous applications. As IBM partners with companies such as ADVA Optical, they are better positioned to deliver on technology demands and create the data center necessary to enable an organization to effectively compete.