Infiniband Keeps Lane 15 In Funding Fast Lane

Adding credence to the notion that infiniband is "the next big thing" for the server and storage markets, infiniband vendor Lane 15 Software last week secured $12 million in second-round funding from Convergent Investors, Dell Computer, Intel, and Quanta Venture Capital, among others.

Infiniband is a high-speed networking technology that promises to greatly speed data communication across networks, servers, and storage devices. Lane 15, in Austin, Texas, will use the money to support the release of infiniband management tools next year. "We're targeting the early adopters," CEO Alisa Nessler says.

First-to-market infiniband products will sell at a premium over traditional technologies because early adopters are the least cost-sensitive, says Gordon Haff, an analyst at Illuminata.

Lane 15's Fabric Manager software lets users find and initialize infiniband devices on a network. Market-research firm International Data Corp. predicts that at least half of all servers will be infiniband-compatible by 2005.