Napatech disclosed the expansion of their IPU product line to include 400 GbE solutions based on the latest generation of technology from Intel and Altera.
In 2023, Napatech developed the F2070X product line of production-grade hardware with turnkey software that delivers a 200 Gbps SmartNIC or IPU for a variety of top applications, services, and use cases. The products are based on Altera’s industry-leading IPU Platform F2000X-PL, anchored by the successful joint effort that delivered F2070X solutions optimized for leading data center use cases that include network, storage, and security offload and acceleration. Strong customer demand and early design-win success have resulted in initial orders for the F2070X, speaking to the value of Napatech’s turnkey solutions.
The next stage of the collaboration is a logical continuation, scaling the platform by 2X in throughput and the option for the 400 Gbps IPU, defined by Altera’s Hot Springs Canyon architecture. It is packed with the latest technology from Intel and Altera, including the Intel Xeon D processor and Agilex 7 I-Series FPGA. The products also feature an innovative, disaggregated design that unlocks new network architectures, applications, and services. It allows deployment as a SmartNIC that can be expanded to IPU configurations with an optional processor. The disaggregation also provides flexible combinations of FPGA and processor resources that deliver customers the optimal mix of functionality, performance, size, cost, and power while supported in standard, high-volume servers from leading OEMs.
The new SmartNIC and IPU solutions, based on the Hot Springs Canyon architecture, are designed for the highest volume and growth segments for programmable NICs. These include modern cloud and edge computing applications and services, AI infrastructure, disaggregated storage, hybrid multi-cloud enterprise business applications such as data analytics and cybersecurity, and other high-volume, distributed use cases.
Altera and Napatech collaborated on the detailed specifications of the Hot Springs Canyon architecture and initial product designs in partnership with a tier-1, global server OEM that continues to lead in enterprise and cloud data centers. Consequently, this next phase of the partnership again includes significant contributions by all parties reflecting the shared commitment to bringing this differentiated solution to the market.
“Through generations of innovation, Altera and Intel have earned the trust and confidence of cloud, enterprise, and telecom data center operators,” said Jarrod Siket, chief marketing officer at Napatech. “Napatech continues to benefit from their product and technology leadership, as well as sales, marketing, and business development strengths, that help to unlock Napatech’s strategic value for our customers and shareholders.”
“Together with Napatech, we extend the success of Altera’s 3rd generation IPU platform from a majority of the global hyperscale, next wave and AI specialty cloud service providers into the wider public, private, and on-premise data center markets for cloud and enterprise market segments,” said Jim Dworkin, Vice President and General Manager of the Cloud & Enterprise Acceleration Division at Altera. “We are pleased to see Napatech continuing to expand its IPU and SmartNIC portfolio with market-leading hardware and software providing customers with best-in-class, turnkey data center networking, storage, security, and telemetry solutions based on Altera technology.”
