Potential HEP Applications of a New High Performance Networking Technology

In 1989, a completely new 100MByte/s technology emerged for fast data networking using non-blocking full crossbar switches, and was called HIgh Performance Parallel Interface (HIPPI). For high-energy physics this new technology brought a number of new possibilities such as fast data distribution and event building. Using HIPPI for data distribution between an experiment's data acquisition and a number of workstations has been very successful in the NA48 experiment. Today a new standard, the Gigabyte System Network (GSN), is emerging for computer networking using fast, full-duplex connections with an effective bandwidth of 800 MByte/s in each direction. This paper describes GSN, including the switch structure and its very low latency protocol called Scheduled Transfer (ST). An overview of available components will be given, together with some examples of how this standard can be applied in high end computing and in future high-energy physics data acquisition.