Overview
ISO/IEC 11518-6:2000 - Information technology - High-Performance Parallel Interface - Part 6: Physical Switch Control (HIPPI‑SC) specifies the control protocol for HIPPI physical‑layer switches. It defines the Connection Control Information (CCI / I‑Field) format and the behaviour required for switches and end‑points when establishing, maintaining and breaking HIPPI connections across a fabric of one or more physical layer switches. The standard facilitates interoperable, high‑performance point‑to‑point and multi‑switch HIPPI topologies used in high‑performance computing, display systems and block‑transfer peripherals.
Key topics and technical requirements
- CCI / I‑Field format: A 32‑bit control field (bits include L, Vendor_Unique, W, D, PS, C and Routing Control) used during HIPPI connection sequences.
- L (Locally administered) designates local definitions.
- VU (Vendor_Unique) bits are passed unchanged and may carry vendor flags.
- W (Double‑wide) indicates 800 Mbit/s (32‑bit DATA BUS, Cable‑A) vs 1 600 Mbit/s (64‑bit DATA BUS, Cable‑A & Cable‑B).
- D (Direction) selects sub‑field orientation for routing control.
- PS (Path Selection) selects source routing or logical addressing modes.
- C (Camp‑on) requests retries rather than immediate reject when path is busy.
- Source routing: I‑Field routing control is split into sub‑fields sized by switch port count ([Log N]) so a Source can encode per‑switch output ports. Switches modify only the Routing Control sub‑field as the packet traverses the fabric.
- Logical addressing: PS modes allow 12‑bit Logical Address fields for Source and Destination, plus a defined set of reserved logical addresses (e.g., F90–FBF series) to support functions such as iterative self‑discovery and management.
- Switch behaviour: Rules for use of INTERCONNECT and CLOCK signals, connection accept/reject sequences, camp‑on semantics and breaking connections. The standard explicitly does not provide protection against errors introduced by intermediate devices.
- Informative annexes: Annex A (routing examples) and Annex B (implementation considerations including address self‑discovery method).
Applications
- Building interoperable HIPPI switch fabrics for high‑performance computing clusters and visualization systems.
- Implementing switch and end‑point firmware/hardware that conforms to HIPPI connection sequencing (source routing, logical addressing, camp‑on).
- Enabling address self‑discovery and basic switch management in HIPPI networks.
- Supporting mixed switch sizes and both single cable and double‑wide (dual‑cable) HIPPI links.
Who should use this standard
- Switch and NIC hardware designers
- System integrators and data‑center architects working with legacy HIPPI infrastructures
- Firmware/driver developers for HIPPI physical layer equipment
- Engineers implementing high‑speed block‑transfer or display interconnects
Related standards
- ISO/IEC 11518‑1 (HIPPI‑PH – mechanical, electrical and signalling)
- ISO/IEC 11518‑2 (Framing Protocol), ‑3 (HIPPI‑LE), ‑4 (HIPPI‑IPI), ‑5 (HIPPI‑MI), ‑8 (HIPPI‑ATM), ‑9 (HIPPI‑Serial)
Keywords: ISO/IEC 11518‑6, HIPPI‑SC, HIPPI, physical switch control, I‑Field, CCI, source routing, logical address, camp‑on, HIPPI fabric.
