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VIEO Snags $4M More: Page 2 of 3

From a performance point of view, InfiniBand has a transfer rate of 2.5 Gbit/s, which will allow server speeds to easily match Fibre Channel or gigabit Ethernet line rates. Infiniband also will work with next-generation Fibre Channel speeds of 2 Gbit/s, making it a suitable companion for products expected to launch later this year from Brocade Communications Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: BRCD) and other switch vendors.

Infiniband's future seems promising. Research firm IDC expects 100,000 servers built around the InfiniBand architecture to ship late this year, skyrocketing to 3.5 million in 2004. IDC predicts that revenue from InfiniBand switches will exceed $1 billion by 2004.

Infiniband is supported by a range of industry heavyweights, including Compaq Computer Corp. (NYSE: CPQ), Dell, Sun Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW), Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC), Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HWP), and Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT). These and other companies in the InfiniBand Trade Association have clear intentions of making the bus a hit.

Even so, much remains to be done. While many vendors claim to be in various stages of creating Infiniband products, little software has been developed to achieve the transfer of data among servers, routers, and switches. Enter VEIO. VIEO and its archrival Lane15 Software are among the few ISVs (independent software vendors) creating software for Infiniband gear.

Although VIEO hasn't yet shipped its products, the financial input of BMC and Dell should help move things along. So will their partnership. BMC has already committed to OEMing VIEO's software in its products, and it's probably a safe bet that if things work out, Dell might do so as well. Another OEM customer is InfiniSwitch Corp., and VIEO says it expects to sign up four more major software companies soon.