Supercomputers - Does the Cabling Matter?

papaia asks: "Having watched, for a while, the development in the area of high-density server hardware solutions (i.e. blade servers), like IBM's 'top gun', and their increased presence in Data Centers, I have been wondering if anybody has had any experience (thus comments) in regards to how important - in such highly priced solutions - is (or could be) the [always neglected] cabling, connecting the servers. One such comment caught my attention, in this regard. Slashdot, how important is the server cabling infrastructure in your Data Centers, and how do you resolve the cable management aspect of it?"

sentence (flow)

[trs9000]

any experience (thus comments) in regards to how important - in such highly priced solutions - is (or could be) the [always neglected] cabling

im sure you could fit more parentheses and brackets in there! .....you werent even really trying

Re:sentence (flow)

[PerlDudeXL]

probably some lisp/scheme side-effects.

Re:sentence (flow)

[Bootle]

Any sentence where you need to break out Order of Operations, right? God, the Internet has destroyed our communication skills. Kinda ironical....

"Audiophile" cables

[pv2b]

$500 for a 6 foot audio cable? Your friend prolly got some cheap low-end swill. :-)

Here's the real good stuff [amusicdirect.com]. I wish I weren't making this shit up.

This previous /. thread [slashdot.org] has a few other interesting examples, including the one above.

Me? I just hook everything up using lamp cord.

Re:literally speaking, no

[St. Arbirix]

I've seen 10 meg go over a barbed wire fence...

So that's how you're supposed to handle physical security for your workstation. My new hero.

Re:No

[BladeMelbourne]

How can I shut down if I can't click on the Start button?

Windows (TM) Supercomputer Uptime: 23:59:5BSOD!

Re:literally speaking, no

[themuffinking]

No, yourself.

It matters how many wires are in the cable. A cable is a mass of wires, and the more wires, the more data can be sent at once. Hence the sucktasticness of phone lines as internet connections with their few measly threads of single wires. Now, a broadband cable line has a whole mess of wires in it. A T1 or T3 line has an unfathomable number of seperate cables twisted upon each other within it. It's not the wire that matters, it's the number of them.