Omni-Path

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Omni-Path Architecture (OPA) is Intel’s high‑performance network technology, designed for low latency, low power consumption, and high throughput. It competes with InfiniBand and was planned for exascale computing. The current owner is Cornelis Networks. Production began in 2015, with first deliveries in early 2016.

In November 2015, 2‑port Wolf River adapters (QSFP28, up to 100 Gbit/s) and 48‑port Prairie River switches were announced. In April 2016, there was discussion of implementing the InfiniBand verbs interface for Omni-Path. In October 2016, a group of major tech companies formed Gen-Z to develop an open spec for storage and memory that could partly compete with Omni-Path. Intel also sold Omni-Path through other vendors, for example Dell EMC’s Dell Networking H-series in 2017.

In July 2019, Intel announced it would stop developing Omni-Path and canceled the 200‑Gbps OPA 200 series. In September 2020, Intel spun Omni-Path into a new venture with Cornelis Networks, with Intel keeping legacy support while Cornelis continues the product line. In 2021, Cornelis announced Omni-Path Express, which replaces older PSM2-based drivers with a native libfabric provider for the existing hardware.