InfiniBand Network Architecture

Rating:
Summary: Tells HOW to use/implement InfiniBand but not WHY
Review: This book is mainly for the hardware computer designer. It is a comprehensive reference manual for InfiniBand. Typical usage of this book may be by engineers at companies that have already committed to developing InfiniBand supported systems. (Mostly members of the InfiniBand Trade Association.)

What it does not discuss is WHY your company should do such a thing. There is a good reason for this. Mentioning such issues invariably involves quite subjective estimates of future demand for InfiniBand products, and the technological and economic merits of it versus alternatives like Fibre Channel or Ultra SCSI. This can be hazy and contentious. Good for many a flame war on the Internet. Quite rightly, the author decided to stick to the demonstrable facts.

If you are unfamiliar with InfiniBand, as it is still rather new, let me offer an analogy for this book. Compare it to a definitive text on the 7 layer OSI stack or the 5 layer TCP/IP stack. Except that Shanley concentrates on the equivalent of the physical layer and the datalink layer. InfiniBand leaves higher layers to the operating system.

To reiterate: This is an excellent book that teaches you HOW to design an InfiniBand-supported chip or system. But the higher level managerial decision on WHY you would do so needs to be made from other input.