How RDMA Became the Fuel for Fast Networks

Two chance encounters propelled remote direct memory access from a good but obscure idea for fast networks into the jet fuel for the world’s more powerful supercomputers. The lucky breaks launched the fortunes of an Israel-based startup that staked its fortunes on InfiniBand, a network based on RDMA. Later, that startup, Mellanox Technologies, helped steer RDMA into mainstream computing, today’s AI boom and the tech industry’s latest multibillion-dollar merger.