Interoperability through Conformance; The iWARP validation process

The ability of systems to interoperate while using the iWARP protocol suite is a well understood requirement for market acceptance of the technology. Since an improper implementation of the iWARP protocol opens the door to the possibility of silent data corruption, rigorous testing must be in place to ensure that devices properly implement the protocol. This level of verification is difficult to achieve using standard system and interoperability procedures. Verification technology was needed that would enable developers to identify failures in their implementations in the context of specific lower layer protocol conditions. The industry banded together during 2004 to enable the development of verification tools that would provide the detailed testing required by the iWARP community. This paper discusses these tools, the reasoning behind them, what has been achieved to date, and the work that still needs to be done