HIPPI
Encyclopedia
HIPPI is a computer bus
for the attachment of high speed storage devices to supercomputer
s. It was popular in the late 1980s and into the mid-to-late 1990s, but has since been replaced by ever-faster standard interfaces like SCSI
and Fibre Channel
.
The first HIPPI standard defined a 50-wire
twisted pair
cable, running at 800 Mbit/s (100 MB/s), but was soon upgraded to include a 1600 Mbit/s (200 MB/s) mode running on fibre optic cable. An effort to improve the speed resulted in HIPPI-6400, which was later re-named GSN (for Gigabyte System Network) but saw little use due to competing standards. GSN had a full-duplex bandwidth of 6400 Mbit/s or 800 MB/s in each direction.
To understand why HIPPI is no longer used, consider that Ultra3 SCSI offers rates of 160 MB/s, and is available at almost any corner computer store. Meanwhile Fibre Channel offered simple interconnect with both HIPPI and SCSI (it can run both protocols) and speeds of up to 400 MB/s on fibre and 100 MB/s on a single pair of twisted pair copper wires.
HIPPI was the first “near-gigabit” (0.8 Gbit/s) (ANSI
) standard for network data transmission. It was specifically designed for supercomputers and was never intended for mass market networks such as Ethernet
. Many of the features developed for HIPPI are being integrated into such technologies as InfiniBand
. What was remarkable about HIPPI is that it came out when Ethernet was still a 10 Mbit/s data link and SONET
at OC-3 (155 Mbit/s) was considered leading edge technology.
Computer bus
In computer architecture, a bus is a subsystem that transfers data between components inside a computer, or between computers.Early computer buses were literally parallel electrical wires with multiple connections, but the term is now used for any physical arrangement that provides the same...
for the attachment of high speed storage devices to supercomputer
Supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation.Supercomputers are used for highly calculation-intensive tasks such as problems including quantum physics, weather forecasting, climate research, molecular modeling A supercomputer is a...
s. It was popular in the late 1980s and into the mid-to-late 1990s, but has since been replaced by ever-faster standard interfaces like SCSI
SCSI
Small Computer System Interface is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices. The SCSI standards define commands, protocols, and electrical and optical interfaces. SCSI is most commonly used for hard disks and tape drives, but it...
and Fibre Channel
Fibre Channel
Fibre Channel, or FC, is a gigabit-speed network technology primarily used for storage networking. Fibre Channel is standardized in the T11 Technical Committee of the InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards , an American National Standards Institute –accredited standards...
.
The first HIPPI standard defined a 50-wire
Wire
A wire is a single, usually cylindrical, flexible strand or rod of metal. Wires are used to bear mechanical loads and to carry electricity and telecommunications signals. Wire is commonly formed by drawing the metal through a hole in a die or draw plate. Standard sizes are determined by various...
twisted pair
Twisted pair
Twisted pair cabling is a type of wiring in which two conductors are twisted together for the purposes of canceling out electromagnetic interference from external sources; for instance, electromagnetic radiation from unshielded twisted pair cables, and crosstalk between neighboring pairs...
cable, running at 800 Mbit/s (100 MB/s), but was soon upgraded to include a 1600 Mbit/s (200 MB/s) mode running on fibre optic cable. An effort to improve the speed resulted in HIPPI-6400, which was later re-named GSN (for Gigabyte System Network) but saw little use due to competing standards. GSN had a full-duplex bandwidth of 6400 Mbit/s or 800 MB/s in each direction.
To understand why HIPPI is no longer used, consider that Ultra3 SCSI offers rates of 160 MB/s, and is available at almost any corner computer store. Meanwhile Fibre Channel offered simple interconnect with both HIPPI and SCSI (it can run both protocols) and speeds of up to 400 MB/s on fibre and 100 MB/s on a single pair of twisted pair copper wires.
HIPPI was the first “near-gigabit” (0.8 Gbit/s) (ANSI
American National Standards Institute
The American National Standards Institute is a private non-profit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards for products, services, processes, systems, and personnel in the United States. The organization also coordinates U.S. standards with international...
) standard for network data transmission. It was specifically designed for supercomputers and was never intended for mass market networks such as Ethernet
Ethernet
Ethernet is a family of computer networking technologies for local area networks commercially introduced in 1980. Standardized in IEEE 802.3, Ethernet has largely replaced competing wired LAN technologies....
. Many of the features developed for HIPPI are being integrated into such technologies as InfiniBand
InfiniBand
InfiniBand is a switched fabric communications link used in high-performance computing and enterprise data centers. Its features include high throughput, low latency, quality of service and failover, and it is designed to be scalable...
. What was remarkable about HIPPI is that it came out when Ethernet was still a 10 Mbit/s data link and SONET
Sonet
Sonet may refer to:* Sonet Records, European record label* Synchronous optical networking * Saab Sonett...
at OC-3 (155 Mbit/s) was considered leading edge technology.