STAC kicks off new research thread with “STAC Network API Study A”

Collaboration with Mellanox, Solarflare, and University of New Hampshire yields bindings for RDMA, Sockets, RDS STAC recently collaborated with Mellanox, Solarflare, and the University of New Hampshire Interoperability Lab to develop new test-harness software and then use it to study the differences between various network APIs (RDMA, Sockets, and RDS) and their implementations on InfiniBand and Ethernet. The fruits of that labor are now available to premium members of the STAC Benchmark Council. This STAC-funded initiative was the first step in response to demand from Council members for additional research and tools that focus directly on the network stack without intervening commercial software such as middleware or feed handlers. The new offerings are: - vendor-neutral and technology-neutral network test-harness software ("STAC-N") and bindings for UDP, TCP, RDMA, and RDS (including source code) - reports and data from "STAC Network API Study A," which explores the tradeoffs in performance, programming complexity, and resource utilization of the network APIs above on both 10 GbE and QDR IB. This includes a summary report, 23 STAC Reports on specific configurations, and a data file to enable further analysis of the test results - a new Special Interest Group called the STAC Network I/O SIG. This group will provide feedback on the study, the binding source code, and priorities for further research and tool development. Premium members can obtain by completing a simple request form. If you're not sure whether your firm is a premium member of the Council, just ask. We hope you find these new offerings useful, and we look forward to your feedback.