Mellanox NVIDIA CX456A ConnectX-4 Dual Port QSFP28 100GbE EDR InfiniBand VPI PCIe 3.0 x16 Network Interface Card (NIC) MCX456A-ECAT

Accelerate your high-performance networking environment with the Mellanox NVIDIA ConnectX-4 VPI MCX456A-ECAT, a dual-port 100GbE Ethernet and EDR InfiniBand adapter engineered for modern data centers, HPC clusters, AI infrastructures, cloud computing platforms, and storage networks. Built on NVIDIA Mellanox's advanced Virtual Protocol Interconnect (VPI) architecture, this enterprise-class adapter enables each QSFP28 port to operate as either 100GbE Ethernet or 100Gb/s EDR InfiniBand, delivering exceptional flexibility for demanding workloads.

Featuring a PCIe 3.0 x16 interface and two high-speed QSFP28 ports, the MCX456A-ECAT provides up to 200Gb/s aggregate throughput, ultra-low latency, and advanced hardware acceleration technologies. Support for RoCE v1/v2, native InfiniBand RDMA, SR-IOV, VXLAN, NVGRE, GENEVE, and hardware offload engines helps reduce CPU overhead while maximizing application performance.

Whether you're building an AI cluster, deploying NVMe over Fabrics storage, or upgrading a 100GbE network backbone, the ConnectX-4 VPI delivers the performance and scalability required by next-generation computing environments.

Key Features

• Mellanox NVIDIA ConnectX-4 VPI Controller
• Model: MCX456A-ECAT
• Dual-Port QSFP28 Connectivity
• Supports 100GbE Ethernet and EDR InfiniBand
• PCI Express 3.0 x16 Interface
• Up to 100Gb/s Per Port
• Up to 200Gb/s Aggregate Bandwidth
• VPI Technology for Ethernet or InfiniBand Deployment
• RoCE v1 & RoCE v2 Support
• Native InfiniBand RDMA Acceleration
• SR-IOV Virtualization Support
• VXLAN, NVGRE & GENEVE Offloads
• Hardware Erasure Coding Acceleration
• Optimized for HPC, AI, and Enterprise Storage

Technical Specifications

• Manufacturer: NVIDIA Mellanox
• Part Number: MCX456A-ECAT
• Controller: ConnectX-4 VPI
• Interface: PCIe 3.0 x16
• Ports: 2 x QSFP28
• Maximum Speed: 100Gb/s Per Port
• Aggregate Throughput: 200Gb/s
• Protocol Support: Ethernet & InfiniBand
• Form Factor: Low Profile PCIe Adapter
• Power Consumption: 16.7W Typical, Up to 24.3W Maximum
• Bracket: Full Height (Typically Included)

Supported Network Protocols

InfiniBand

• EDR 100Gb/s
• FDR 56Gb/s
• QDR 40Gb/s
• DDR
• SDR
• Native RDMA
• Core-Direct Technology
• Hardware Congestion Control

Ethernet

• 100GBASE-CR4
• 100GBASE-SR4
• 100GBASE-LR4
• 56GBASE-R4
• 40GBASE-CR4
• 40GBASE-SR4
• 40GBASE-LR4
• 25GBASE-CR/SR/LR
• 10GBASE-SR/LR
• 1000BASE-X

Server Compatibility

Compatible with servers featuring an available PCIe 3.0 x16 slot, including:

Dell PowerEdge

• R640
• R740
• R740xd
• R750
• R760
• Other PCIe x16 capable PowerEdge systems

HPE ProLiant

• DL360
• DL380
• Gen9, Gen10, and Gen11 platforms

Lenovo ThinkSystem

• SR630
• SR650
• SR650 V2
• SR630 V2

Supermicro

• Ultra Series
• Twin Family
• SuperServer Platforms
• GPU and HPC Servers

Note: This is a standard PCIe adapter and is not compatible with OCP mezzanine slots, Dell rNDC slots, or proprietary network daughter card interfaces.

Supported Cables & Optics

• QSFP28 DAC Cables
• QSFP28 Active Optical Cables (AOC)
• 100G QSFP28 SR4 Modules
• 100G QSFP28 LR4 Modules
• Mellanox Quantum InfiniBand Switches
• NVIDIA Spectrum Ethernet Switches
• Cisco, Arista, Juniper, and Dell 100GbE Switches

Operating System Compatibility

Supported across major enterprise platforms:

• Microsoft Windows Server 2019 & 2022
• VMware ESXi 7.x & 8.x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
• Rocky Linux
• AlmaLinux
• Ubuntu Server LTS
• Debian Linux
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)

Ideal Applications

• High-Performance Computing (HPC)
• Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
• GPU Clusters
• NVMe over Fabrics (NVMe-oF)
• Enterprise Storage Networks
• InfiniBand Fabrics
• Cloud Computing Platforms
• Data Center Aggregation
• Virtualized Infrastructure
• 100GbE Ethernet Deployments