Server brings FPGA acceleration to the edge
Expanding the TeraBox servers for data centres portfolio, iBittWare has introduced the TeraBox 200DE edge server. According to the BittWare, a Molex company, it enables “world-class FPGA acceleration” to be deployed in the more challenging, harsh environments demanded of edge applications.
The 200DE is a small footprint, 2U short-depth server based on the new Dell PowerEdge XE2420. It can be populated with a range of BittWare accelerator products featuring the latest FPGAs from Achronix, Intel and Xilinx to support the increasingly complex demands of highly specialised workloads such as 5G, Network functions virtualisation (NFV), predictive analytics and machine learning inference.
“Deploying high performance FPGA-based solutions at the edge has been difficult for customers due to the lack of Enterprise-class edge server platforms from tier one suppliers,” said Craig Petrie, VP Marketing at BittWare. “Customers have typically had to design their own custom platforms or work with suppliers who struggle to cope with qualification, support and full lifecycle management,” he said. He added that the TeraBox 200DE is the first enterprise-class FPGA edge server purpose-built for harsh environments and complex, compute-intensive workloads.
BittWare’s TeraBox 200DE is equipped with two 2nd Generation Intel Xeon scalable processors. It is tested to Network Equipment-Building System (NEBS) guidelines and operates over an extended temperature range of 5.0 to 40 degrees C.
It offers support for two FHFL PCIe accelerator cards and a choice of FPGA accelerator including S7t-VG6 featuring Achronix Speedster7t FPGA, Intel Stratix 10 MX and Xilinx UltraScale+ FPGA. Additional FPGA expansion can be achieved using BittWare’s M.2, U.2 and EDSFF products
An optional filtered bezel guards against dust and the TeraBox 200DE is designed to be accessible from the front and cold-aisle serviceable for easy maintenance.
BittWare, a Molex company, provides enterprise-class compute, network, storage and sensor processing accelerator products featuring Achronix, Intel and Xilinx FPGA technology. These programmable products increase application performance and energy-efficiency while reducing total cost of ownership, says the company. BittWare has 30 years’ experience developing FPGA accelerators and claims to be the only FPGA vendor-agnostic supplier of critical mass able to address enterprise-class qualification, validation, lifecycle and support requirements for customers deploying FPGA accelerators in high volumes.
