Readers of the Samtec blog know the benefits of Twinax Flyover™ solutions. Faster data rates can be supported over longer distances. How? Easy. Get signal routes out of noisy and lossy PCB into ultra-low-skew twinax cable.
Many applications that use Twinax Flyover solutions are found in the data center. Applications typically include servers, storage, network switches/routers and other communication equipment.
Twinax Flyover solutions are finding homes in more FPGA and embedded computing solutions as well. Alpha Data’s new 12 x 100G network accelerator platform features both the FireFly™ Micro Flyover System™ and the Flyover™ QSFP28 Cable System.
New Alpha Data Network Accelerator
Alpha Data’s new ADM-PCIE-9H7 High-Speed Communications Hub uses a Xilinx Virtex® Ultrascale+™ FPGA as its base. This new platform creates a massive network device with up to 12 x 100GbE ports using AD-PCIE-FQSFP expansion interfaces.
The ADM-PCIE-9H7 is a three-quarter-length, PCI Express® add-in card featuring an Ultrascale+™ VU37P-2 FPGA. A key feature of the ADM-PCIE-9H7 is the FireFly™ Micro Flyover System™ expansion I/O.
There are eight FireFly sockets on the ADM-PCIE-9H7. These allow for additional network connectivity and flexibility of adaptation to different physical interfaces.
FireFly offers the flexibility of using micro footprint high-performance optical and low-cost copper interconnects interchangeably with the same connector system. Both copper and optical FireFly options can achieve data rates up to 28 Gbps per channel.
Typical applications of the ADM-PCIE-9H7 include:
- High-Speed Communications Hub
- Data Center
- Network Accelerator
- High-Performance Computing (HPC)
- Data Processing
- System Modeling
- Market Analysis
Adaptor Card Increases Connectivity
The Alpha Data AD-PCIE-FQSFP is an adaptor card. It allows for the conversion of the Firefly interfaces to externally accessible QSFP28 cages. Each card provides an addition 4 x 100GbE QSFP28 interface.
Two AD-PCIE-FQSFP add-on cards can attach to one ADM-PCIE-9H7 via Samtec’s Flyover™ QSFP28 Cable System. In the end, the complete system supports up to 12 x 100GbE ports. Additionally, either copper or fiber optic modules can attach to the QSFP28 cages.
SuperComputing 2018 Demo
Come see the network accelerator demo at Supercomputing 2018! Definitely visit with Alpha Data in SC18 Booth# 222. Samtec will also have a mechanical sample of the system in SC18 Booth# 521.
