Sun and Topspin plug in Solaris 10 grid

Sun Microsystems and Topspin Communications today announced an expansion of their alliance to develop grid computing technology supporting Solaris, Linux and Windows-based operating systems.

Under the terms of the agreement, Sun and Topspin will offer integrated utility computing that includes Topspin's fabric products and Sun's AMD Opteron-based systems.

The system is designed to link servers into high performance grids, virtualise network and storage connectivity, and provision applications on demand.

The combined offering will be based on Topspin's InfiniBand-based server switch platforms, host adapters and VFrame software, with Sun Fire V20Z and V40Z server platforms.

"Our relationship with Topspin enhances our ability to provide state-of-the-art solutions for utility and grid computing," said John Fowler, executive vice president of the Network Systems Group at Sun.

The move expands on the firms' original OEM alliance sealed in March 2003, taking the partnership beyond high performance computing and database clusters into mainstream enterprise grids and utility data centres.