摘要 |
<p>An interconnect network having a plurality of identical fabrics partitions the switching elements of the fabrics, so that many links can be combined into single cables. In the partitioning method, one or more of the switching elements from the first stage of each of the fabrics are physically packaged onto the same board called a concentrator, and these concentrators are physically distributed among the processing nodes connected to the interconnect network. The concentrator allows all the links from each processing node to a concentrator, each of which need to be connected to different fabrics, to be combined into a single cable. Furthermore, the concentrator allows all the links from a single switching element in the first stage to be combined into a single cable to be connected to the subsequent or expansion (second and higher) stages of the fabric. The subsequent or expansion stages of each fabric can be implemented independently of other fabrics in a centralized location. <IMAGE></p> |