I've got a dream, a dream started by browsing Supermicro's website.

Namely, I'm interested in creating a "Blade storage cluster". 1 7U Blade enclosure with the server nodes in it. This enclosure has a Quad DDR Infiniband switch in it (20Gbps). I want to use the Supermicro CSE-846E1's to create storage nodes, 24 drives in 4U each. From what I understand, I'm basically setting up a server, putting an Infiniband HCA (or TCA) into it, and connecting it to the infiniband switch.

Do I need a head end? Or only if I'm planning on sharing storage between server nodes (blades)? Does anyone actually make a TCA? That is, does someone make a TCA that takes 4x DDR infiniband, and includes a SAS RAID controller?

It seems like a lot of wasted power (and money) to build up a system that has the sole purpose to pass traffic from the Infiniband adapter to the RAID controller.

Any thoughts or suggestions? Has anyone had any experience with Infiniband networks, SAN's, etc? I'd love to hear some first hand experience.