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NUMAlink is a system interconnect developed by Silicon Graphics (SGI) for use in its distributed shared memory ccNUMA computer systems. NUMAlink was originally developed by SGI for their Origin 2000 and Onyx2 systems. At the time of these systems' introduction, it was branded as "CrayLink" during SGI's brief ownership of Cray Research.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise entered an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) arrangement with Silicon Graphics International (SGI) to use Numalink as the foundation in some mission critical servers.

Notes

1. Bandwidth per port in each direction (each NUMAlink port is a dual simplex channel).
2. DASH used separate request and reply mesh networks, so this bandwidth number is not directly comparable to NUMAlink.

NUMAlink 2

There was no NUMAlink 1, as SGI's engineers deemed the system interconnect used in the Stanford DASH to be the first generation NUMAlink interconnect. NUMAlink 2 (branded as CrayLink) was announced in October 1996 for the Onyx2 visualization systems, the Origin 200 and the Origin 2000 servers and supercomputers. The NUMAlink 2 interface is the Hub ASIC. NUMAlink 2 is capable of 1.6 GB/s of peak bandwidth through two 800 MB/s, PECL 400 MHz 16-bit unidirectional links.

NUMAlink 3

NUMAlink 3 is the third generation of the interconnect, introduced in 2000 and used in the Origin 3000 and Altix 3000. NUMAlink 3 is capable of 3.2 GB/s of peak bandwidth through two 1.6 GB/s unidirectional links. The name NUMAflex reflects the modular design approach around this time.

NUMAlink 4

NUMAlink 4 is the fourth generation of the interconnect, introduced in 2004 and used in the Altix 4000. NUMAlink 4 is capable of 6.4 GB/s of peak bandwidth through two 3.2 GB/s unidirectional links.

NUMAlink 5

NUMAlink 5 is the fifth generation of the interconnect, introduced in 2009 and used in the Altix UV series. NUMAlink 5 is capable of 15 GB/s of peak bandwidth through two 7.5 GB/s unidirectional links.

NUMAlink 6

NUMAlink 6 is the sixth generation of the interconnect, introduced in 2012 and used in the SGI UV 2000, SGI UV 3000, SGI UV 30. NUMAlink 6 is capable of 6.7 GB/s of bidirectional peak bandwidth for up to 256 socket system and 64TB of coherent shared memory.

NUMAlink 7

NUMAlink 7 is the seventh generation of the interconnect, introduced in 2014 and used in the HPE Integrity MC990 X/SGI UV 300, SGI UV 30EX, SGI UV 300H, SGI UV 300RL. NUMAlink 7 is capable of 14.94 GB/s of bidirectional peak bandwidth for up to 64 socket system and 64TB of coherent shared memory.

NUMAlink 8 (Flex ASIC)

NUMAlink 8 is the eighth generation of the interconnect, introduced in 2017 and used in the HPE Superdome Flex. NUMAlink 8 provides 13.3 GB/s of bandwidth per port and systems using it are capable of 853.33 GB/s of bisection peak bandwidth (64 links are cut) across a 32 socket system with up to 48 TB of coherent shared memory.

See also

• List of device bit rates
• InfiniBand
• RapidIO
• Myrinet
• Scalable Coherent Interconnect
• QsNet II
• QuickRing

References

1. ^ "Silicon Graphics and Cray Research Unveil Modular Origin Server Family: High-Bandwidth Systems Revolutionize Computer Buying Economics With Seamless Scalability". Press release. October 7, 1996. Archived from the original on July 7, 1997. Retrieved September 21, 2013.
2. "SGI Enters OEM Agreement with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) to Deliver SGI UV Technology through HPE Mission Critical Solutions - SGI Blog". 9 February 2016. Archived from the original on 4 November 2016. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
3. ^ "SGI® NUMAlink™ Industry Leading Interconnect Technology" (PDF). White paper. April 13, 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 28, 2006. Retrieved September 21, 2013.
4. John Mashey (August 30, 2000). "NUMAflex Modular Design Approach: A Revolution in Evolution". Retrieved September 28, 2016.
5. "SGI Altix UV" (PDF). www.sgi.com. Silicon Graphics International. 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-18.
6. "SGI UV 2000 Datasheet" (PDF). www.sgi.com. Silicon Graphics International. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-05-17. Retrieved 2016-02-10.
7. "SGI UV 3000, UV 30 Datasheet" (PDF). www.sgi.com. Silicon Graphics International. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-06-11. Retrieved 2016-02-10.
8. "SGI UV 300, UV 30EX Datasheet" (PDF). www.sgi.com. Silicon Graphics International. 2015. Retrieved 2016-02-10.
9. "SGI UV 300H Datasheet" (PDF). www.sgi.com. Silicon Graphics International. 2015. Retrieved 2016-02-10.
10. "SGI UV 300RL Datasheet" (PDF). www.sgi.com. Silicon Graphics International. 2015. Retrieved 2016-02-10.
11. "Endeavour Configuration Details". NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division. 2021-08-05. Retrieved 2023-10-28. A Superdome Flex ASIC (also known as NUMAlink 8) provides 16 flex grid ports, each capable of 13.3 GB/s data rates for maximum flex grid bandwidth. The total bi-sectional crossbar grid bandwidth for a 32-socket Superdome Flex server is more than 850 GB/s.
12. "HPE's Superdome Gets An SGI NUMAlink Makeover". www.nextplatform.com. The Next Platform. 2017. Retrieved 2017-11-14.
13. "HPE Superdome Flex Server - Product documentation". hpe.com. HPE. 2017. Retrieved 2017-11-14.
14. "HPE High Performance Computing & AI Solutions" (PDF). www.hpe.com. Hewlett Packard Enterprise. 2017. Retrieved 2018-03-24.

• Joseph Heinrich, Origin and Onyx2 Theory of Operations Manual, 007-3439-002, Silicon Graphics.

External links

• HPE NUMAlink servers, Superdome Flex.
• Silicon Graphics International, official website (pre-acquisition) at the Wayback Machine (archived October 28, 2016)
• Silicon Graphics, official website (pre-acquisition) at the Wayback Machine (archived March 27, 2009)

• Silicon Graphics