IBM BladeCenter system electrical packaging design challenges

Author

Patel, P. ; Hughes, J. ; Herman, B. ; Cases, M. ; de Araujo, D.N. ; Pham, N.

Author_Institution

Syst. Group, IBM Corp., Research Triangle Park, NC, USA

fYear

2004

fDate

25-27 Oct. 2004

Firstpage

11

Lastpage

14

Abstract

This work describes the electrical and thermal design challenges encountered during the definition, design and verification of a BladeCenter™ system configuration utilizing high speed serial signal interfaces. This system uses gigabit Ethernet (GbE), fiber channel (FC) and Infiniband (IB) interfaces for interconnecting processor blades through high speed cross-bar switches with built-in redundancy capability. A comprehensive electrical design methodology including accurate and detailed modeling and simulation of the complete design space is required to achieve the speeds provided by these standard interfaces using low-cost printed circuit board material. The focus of the analysis is on the link attenuation for the system described. The cooling solution needed to accommodate the overall system thermal requirement for maximum configuration is also discussed.

Keywords

local area networks; network interfaces; network servers; printed circuit accessories; thermal management (packaging); IBM BladeCenter™ system; Infiniband interfaces; electrical packaging design; fiber channel; gigabit Ethernet; high speed cross bar switches; printed circuit board material; processor blade interconnection; redundancy; serial signal interfaces; thermal design; Attenuation; Blades; Circuit simulation; Design methodology; Ethernet networks; Integrated circuit interconnections; Packaging; Printed circuits; Signal design; Switches;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Electrical Performance of Electronic Packaging, 2004. IEEE 13th Topical Meeting on

Print_ISBN

0-7803-8667-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/EPEP.2004.1407530

Filename

1407530