<s>
Fabric	B-General_Concept
computing	I-General_Concept
or	O
unified	B-General_Concept
computing	I-General_Concept
involves	O
constructing	O
a	O
computing	B-General_Concept
fabric	I-General_Concept
consisting	O
of	O
interconnected	O
nodes	O
that	O
look	O
like	O
a	O
weave	O
or	O
a	O
fabric	O
when	O
seen	O
collectively	O
from	O
a	O
distance	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Usually	O
the	O
phrase	O
refers	O
to	O
a	O
consolidated	O
high-performance	B-Architecture
computing	I-Architecture
system	O
consisting	O
of	O
loosely	B-Application
coupled	I-Application
storage	B-General_Concept
,	O
networking	B-Architecture
and	O
parallel	B-Operating_System
processing	I-Operating_System
functions	O
linked	O
by	O
high	O
bandwidth	O
interconnects	O
(	O
such	O
as	O
10	O
Gigabit	O
Ethernet	O
and	O
InfiniBand	B-Architecture
)	O
but	O
the	O
term	O
has	O
also	O
been	O
used	O
to	O
describe	O
platforms	O
such	O
as	O
the	O
Azure	B-Application
Services	I-Application
Platform	I-Application
and	O
grid	B-Architecture
computing	I-Architecture
in	O
general	O
(	O
where	O
the	O
common	O
theme	O
is	O
interconnected	O
nodes	O
that	O
appear	O
as	O
a	O
single	O
logical	O
unit	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
the	O
term	O
"	O
fabric	O
"	O
has	O
also	O
been	O
used	O
in	O
association	O
with	O
storage	B-General_Concept
area	O
networks	O
and	O
with	O
switched	B-Architecture
fabric	I-Architecture
networking	B-Architecture
,	O
the	O
introduction	O
of	O
compute	O
resources	O
provides	O
a	O
complete	O
"	O
unified	O
"	O
computing	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Other	O
terms	O
used	O
to	O
describe	O
such	O
fabrics	O
include	O
"	O
unified	B-General_Concept
fabric	I-General_Concept
"	O
,	O
"	O
data	B-General_Concept
center	I-General_Concept
fabric	I-General_Concept
"	O
and	O
"	O
unified	O
data	B-General_Concept
center	I-General_Concept
fabric	I-General_Concept
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ian	O
Foster	O
,	O
director	O
of	O
the	O
Computation	O
Institute	O
at	O
the	O
Argonne	O
National	O
Laboratory	O
and	O
University	O
of	O
Chicago	O
suggested	O
in	O
2007	O
that	O
grid	B-Architecture
computing	I-Architecture
"	O
fabrics	O
"	O
were	O
"	O
poised	O
to	O
become	O
the	O
underpinning	O
for	O
next-generation	O
enterprise	O
IT	O
architectures	O
and	O
be	O
used	O
by	O
a	O
much	O
greater	O
part	O
of	O
many	O
organizations	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
the	O
term	O
has	O
been	O
in	O
use	O
since	O
the	O
mid	O
to	O
late	O
1990s	O
the	O
growth	O
of	O
cloud	B-Architecture
computing	I-Architecture
and	O
Cisco	O
's	O
evangelism	O
of	O
unified	O
data	B-General_Concept
center	I-General_Concept
fabrics	I-General_Concept
followed	O
by	O
unified	B-General_Concept
computing	I-General_Concept
(	O
an	O
evolutionary	O
data	B-Operating_System
center	I-Operating_System
architecture	O
whereby	O
blade	B-Architecture
servers	I-Architecture
are	O
integrated	O
or	O
unified	O
with	O
supporting	O
network	B-Architecture
and	O
storage	B-General_Concept
infrastructure	O
)	O
starting	O
March	O
2009	O
has	O
renewed	O
interest	O
in	O
the	O
technology	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Analysts	O
claim	O
that	O
this	O
"	O
ambitious	O
new	O
direction	O
"	O
is	O
"	O
a	O
big	O
risk	O
"	O
as	O
companies	O
such	O
as	O
IBM	O
and	O
HP	O
who	O
have	O
previously	O
partnered	O
with	O
Cisco	O
on	O
data	B-Operating_System
center	I-Operating_System
projects	O
(	O
accounting	O
for	O
$2	O
–	O
3bn	O
of	O
Cisco	O
's	O
annual	O
revenue	O
)	O
are	O
now	O
competing	O
with	O
them	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2007	O
,	O
Wombat	O
Financial	O
Software	O
launched	O
the	O
"	O
Wombat	O
Data	O
Fabric	O
,	O
"	O
the	O
first	O
commercial	O
off-the-shelf	O
software	O
platform	O
providing	O
high	O
performance	O
/	O
low-latency	O
RDMA-based	O
messaging	O
across	O
an	O
Infiniband	B-Architecture
switch	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
main	O
advantages	O
of	O
fabrics	O
are	O
that	O
massive	O
concurrent	B-Operating_System
processing	O
combined	O
with	O
a	O
huge	O
,	O
tightly	O
coupled	O
address	O
space	O
makes	O
it	O
possible	O
to	O
solve	O
huge	O
computing	O
problems	O
(	O
such	O
as	O
those	O
presented	O
by	O
delivery	O
of	O
cloud	B-Architecture
computing	I-Architecture
services	O
)	O
;	O
and	O
that	O
they	O
are	O
both	O
scalable	B-Architecture
and	O
able	O
to	O
be	O
dynamically	O
reconfigured	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Challenges	O
include	O
a	O
non-linearly	O
degrading	O
performance	O
curve	O
,	O
whereby	O
adding	O
resources	O
does	O
not	O
linearly	O
increase	O
performance	O
which	O
is	O
a	O
common	O
problem	O
with	O
parallel	B-Operating_System
computing	I-Operating_System
and	O
maintaining	O
security	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
companies	O
offering	O
unified	O
or	O
fabric	B-General_Concept
computing	I-General_Concept
systems	O
include	O
Avaya	O
,	O
Brocade	O
,	O
Cisco	O
,	O
Egenera	O
,	O
HPE	O
,	O
IBM	O
,	O
Liquid	B-Application
Computing	I-Application
Corporation	I-Application
,	O
TIBCO	O
,	O
Unisys	O
,	O
and	O
Xsigo	O
Systems	O
.	O
</s>
