* Intel lets third-parties write to its Input/Output Acceleration Technology
Intel last week at the Intel Developers Forum in Taipei opened up part of its Input/Output Acceleration Technology, which speeds network traffic handling, to outside companies.
The technology, which Intel calls QuickData, puts network data directly into memory, bypassing the processor which has to handle transmitted data.
QuickData was introduced as part of I/OAT when Intel launched its Xeon 5100 series processor in June. The Direct Memory Access (DMA) engine in Intel server and workstation chipsets also use QuickData, and I/OAT is supported by IBM, Hitachi, NEC, Toshiba, Acer, Lenovo, Samsung, Supermicro and Tyan.
The Taipei announcement extends QuickData to be supported by third-parties. Previously, QuickData only worked in servers containing Intel’s network adapters and chips.
IBM, Fujitsu-Siemens and Microsoft immediately endorsed the technology. Broadcom is looking at how it can use QuickData and InfiniBand vendor Mellanox says it will use it too. VMware plans to incorporate QuickData into its virtualization technology.
Intel has been working closely with Microsoft, the Linux community, VMware and several server vendors to optimize Intel QuickData technology.
Microsoft, for example, will use QuickData to help Windows Server 2003 customers using Microsoft’s Scalable Networking Pack, to optimize performance. IBM is considering the benefits of using servers with Intel’s PRO/1000PT network adapters, which use the QuickData technology. And VMware says it will use QuickData to speed up the I/O emulation code in its virtualization software.
