Infiniband, the high-speed networking technology that links servers and storage systems, is more than a year away from mainstream IT use, but investors continue to pour money into it. Dell Computer and Sun Microsystems are among a group led by Bessemer Venture Partners that last week provided $56 million in third-round funding to Mellanox Technologies.

Mellanox, an Israeli company with U.S. operations in Santa Clara, Calif., develops products such as components designed to make blade servers Infiniband-compatible.

Despite the buzz over Infiniband, the technology probably won't make an impact until mid-2003. Says Technology Business Research analyst Brooks Gray, "Products are starting to trickle out, but you won't see widespread adoption until the whole infrastructure is in place," such as compatible servers, networks, and storage products.