Here's the deal: Contract manufacturers -- think of these companies as the "manufacturer behind the manufacturer" -- rarely get into a market until all the technology pieces of the puzzle are available and standardized. Further, because contract manufacturing is a low-margin business, the opportunity for significant market growth is key.
In the case of InfiniBand, says Thompson, several forces had to be aligned for Sanmina to step into the market -- including the availability of second- or third-generation silicon, enabling software, and IB-enabled applications like Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL) and IBM databases. "There's not a lot of point in jumping in and burning a load of money before then," he says.
Taking those one at a time: The market for InfiniBand silicon has shaken out, and out of the initial group of suppliers, Mellanox Technologies Ltd. and Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) have emerged as the dominant players (see Banderacom Abandons InfiniBand, OmegaBand Is InfiniBusted, IBM Kills InfiniBand Chip, IBM Puts IB Chips up for Sale, Intel Bails on InfiniBand, RedSwitch, Agilent Ship InfiniBand Chip, Agilent Acquires RedSwitch, and Mellanox Pumps Up InfiniBand).
Next, the enabling software to manage InfiniBand connectivity is taken care of by Lane15 Software and, more recently, InfiniCon Systems Inc. For anyone wondering what happened to VIEO Inc.'s intellectual property around InfiniBand software, Sanmina appears to have it. "We are going to be the primary channel for [VIEO's] InfiniBand software," Thompson says (see InfiniCon Preps Software Unit, VIEO Goes Vanilla, and Lane 15 Picked for IB Test).
The last crucial piece of the puzzle -- applications that take advantage of InfiniBand -- appears to be on the table, too. Representatives from IBM's DB2 database group and Oracle's 9i clustering division say they have versions of their software that support the specification.
To realize the benefits of cloud-native software, an application must actually be cloud-native—designed to run in the cloud, interacting with disaggregated cloud services, fully manageable as code—to deliver the expected benefits.
By combining resources and expertise, the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium will offer a blueprint for how industries can adapt to an AI-dominated future.
IT leaders should heed the guidance of cybersecurity insurance providers who think businesses should prioritize security education, incident preparedness, regular internal audits, and ongoing vulnerability scanning and patching.
