DOLPHIN INTERCONNECT SOLUTIONS AS
Hugo Kohmann
CTO
hugo@dolphinics.com
http://www.dolphinics.com
Olaf Helsets vei 6 NO-0619 Oslo, Norway Phone: +47 23 16 70 00 Fax: +47 23 16 71 80
Company Overview
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Spin-off from the Norwegian Computer company Norsk Data in 1992
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Venture Capital Funding from 1993
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Experience SCI based in high speed computer interconnect from 1988
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Employees, 19 in Oslo, Sales in Oslo, Paris, Lyon, London, Hannover and Los
Angeles
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World Wide Reps, Resellers and Integrators
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Logistics Center in Natick MA
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First Application of Dolphin Technology, Convex Exemplar, 1994
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Shipping Customers, SUN, Thales, Fujitsu Siemens, Philips, Auspex, Scali, + + +
SCI Standard - Dolphin SCI Technology
• WHAT IS SCI?
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The SCI standard ANSI/IEEE 1596-1992 defines a point-to-point interface and a
set of packet protocols.
The protocols use small packet sizes with a 16-byte header and data sizes of 16,
64, 128 and 256 bytes.
Packets are protected by a 16-bit CRC code.
An SCI interface has two unidirectional links that operate concurrently.
The SCI protocols support shared memory by encapsulating bus requests and
responses into SCI request and response packets.
Bus like protocol with Packet-based handshake protocols and guaranteed data
delivery.
64 bits addressing and the most significant 16 bits are used for addressing up to
64K nodes.
A set of cache coherence protocols are defined to maintain cache coherence in a
shared memory system.
Message passing is supported by a compatible subset of the SCI protocols. This
protocol subset does not invoke SCI cache coherency protocols.
Dolphin Products
Windows, Solaris, Linux, Lynx, VxWorks
IRM, SISCI API, IP
Card
Hardware
Card
Card
Card
PCI SCI
Adapter Cards
SCI Switches
SCI network
PMC SCI Adapter Card
I/O Subsystem Modules
SCI Chips
Unique Features of the Dolphin SCI/PCI Technolgy
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Bus Bridging Capability
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Bus Requests and Responses are translated directly in HW to Request and
Response Packets
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Point to Point Links gives Bus Performance and Latency over Distance
Ultra Low Latency, High Bandwidth
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1.4us to deliver 4 bytes, 14.4us to deliver 4k bytes
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326 MegaBytes/s sustained throughput
Choice of Topologies
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Ring, Torus, Switched – Hundreds of nodes
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Wide Application Area
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Well Proven, Shipped to Critical Applications for >6 years
SISCI
• Esprit Project 73124
 Software Infrastructure for SCI
• Application Programming Interface (API)
 Low Level SCI Programming
• User space Access to basic SCI and Adapter properties
 High Bandwidth
 Low Latency
 Memory Mapped Remote Access
 DMA Engine
 Interrupts
 Callbacks
Mulig oppgave 1
• SCI som Reflektiv Memory
 Transparent distribusjon av lokale data til andre maskiner
 Problemstillinger
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Regulære intervaller eller ved behov
2 maskiner, mange maskiner
Effektive algoritmer for multicast
Feilhåndtering
Synkronisering
Implementere software over SISCI/GENIF
Benchmarking
Mulig oppgave 2
• Portabel Fast socket kommunikasjon for SCI
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Problemstillinger
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Effektive protokoller
Portabilitet mellom operativsystemer og plattformer
Minimalisering av resurser
Feilhåndtering
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Transparent / ikke transparent løsninger
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Implementere løsning over SISCI
Mulig oppgave 3
• Effektiv DMA implementasjon for PCI-X
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Problemstillinger
• Effektive protokoller for sending av data over SCI
• Effektive Software DMA programmerings modeller
• Feilhåndtering
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Implementere prototype i eksisterende FPGA
Grunnlag for Dolphin’s neste generasjons PCI-X SCI Bridge
Oppgaver hos Dolphin
• Dolphin vil stille med nødvendige resurser for gjennomføring av
oppgaven(e).
 Kontor
 Test maskiner / utstyr
 Veiledningskapasitet
• Oppgaven(e) bør gjennomføres på normert tid.
• Hvis du er interessert, ta kontakt for diskusjon.