congatec Releases 5 COM-HPC Server Size D Modules Powered by Intel

June 28, 2022

News

The launch underscores the massive industry demand for edge server performance in a small, rugged, and outdoor-capable form factor. It also propels Intel Xeon D-2700 processors with up to 20 cores into the realm of real-time demanding mixed-critical applications. The number of supported DRAM modules is reduced from 8 to 4 bars when compared to the larger (200x160mm) COM-HPC Server Size E modules that are already available. Nonetheless, 512 GB of DDR4 RAM at 2,933 MT/s is provided.

The advantage of limiting the RAM is that the modules take up less space, reducing the required footprint by 20% when compared to Size E. The new Intel Xeon D-2700 processor-based COM-HPC modules' target applications are deeply embedded, space-constrained edge server deployments, with high data throughput but less memory-intensive workloads. They are commonly found in IIoT-connected real-time environments such as smart factories and critical infrastructures.

All congatec COM-HPC Server modules with Intel Xeon processors (formerly Ice Lake D) in Size E and Size D, as well as the COM Express Type 7 form factor, accelerate the next generation of real-time microserver workloads in rugged environments and extended temperature ranges, regardless of the various Server-on-Module specifications. Up to 20 cores, 1 TB RAM, double throughput per PCIe lane to Gen 4 speeds, up to 100 GbE connectivity, and TCC/TSN support are among the enhancements.

Industrial workload consolidation servers for automation, robotics, and medical backend imaging are among the target applications, as are outdoor servers for utilities and critical infrastructures such as smart grids for oil, gas, and electricity, as well as rail and communication networks, and vision-enabled applications such as autonomous vehicles and video infrastructures for safety and security.

Aside from significant bandwidth and performance improvements, congatec's Server-on-Module families significantly extend the lifecycle of next-generation rugged edge server designs when compared to common servers, with long-term availability of up to ten years on the roadmap. The module families also impress with a comprehensive set of server-grade features. They provide powerful hardware security features such as Intel Boot Guard, Intel Total Memory Encryption - Multi-Tenant (Intel TME-MT), and Intel Software Guard Extensions for mission-critical designs (Intel SGX). AI applications benefit from hardware acceleration, such as AVX-512 and VNNI. The processor modules incorporate Intel Resource Director Technology (Intel RDT) and support remote hardware management features for the best RAS capabilities.

The feature set in detail

congatec's existing COM-HPC Server Size D product family with Intel Xeon D-1700 processors is extended by the five new conga-HPC/sILH Server-on-Modules with Intel Xeon D-2700 series processors. Both processor series are based on the Ice Lake generation. The current release doubles the number of cores available on this compact, 160x160mm high-performance Server-on-Module from up to 10 to up to 20. Memory support has been increased from three to four DDR4 RAM channels with up to 512 GB at 2,933 MT/s. They have 32x PCIe Gen 4 lanes in addition to 16x PCIe Gen 3 lanes for connecting a wide range of dedicated controllers, computing accelerator cards, and NVMe storage media in rugged edge server installations.

There is 1x 2.5 GbE with TSN and TCC support on top of an extended Ethernet bandwidth of 100Gb in various configurations including 1x 100 GbE, 2x 50 GbE, 4x 25 GbE, and several other configurations via KR or SFI interfaces for real-time networking. There are also four USB 3.1 ports and four USB 2.0 ports. Non-volatile storage is supported by an integrated eMMC 5.1 with up to 128 GB capacity and two SATA III interfaces.

The new COM-HPC Server-on-Modules are application-ready and include comprehensive board support packages for Windows, Linux, and VxWorks. Congatec's comprehensive support of RTS Hypervisor implementations from Real-Time Systems enables real-time virtual machine support for workload consolidation. Congatec also provides perfectly matched cooling solutions, ranging from powerful active cooling with a heat pipe adapter to fully passive cooling solutions for maximum mechanical resilience against vibration and shock.

The new conga-HPC/sILH COM-HPC Server Size D modules (160x160mm) with Intel Xeon D-2700 processors will be available in the following variants:

Processor		Cores / Threads		Freq. [GHz]		LLC Cache [MB]		CPU Base Power [W]		Temperature range
Intel Xeon D-2796TE		20 / 40		2.0		30		118		Extended
Intel Xeon D-2775TE		16 / 32		2.0		25		100		Extended
Intel Xeon D-2752TER		12 / 24		1.8		20		77		Extended
Intel Xeon D-2733NT		8 / 16		2.1		15		80		Commercial
Intel Xeon D-2712T		4 / 8		1.9		15		65		Commercial

(Image Credit: congatec)

"Our current launch is best described as ‘less is more’: Mixed-critical edge server applications don’t have to handle RAM-intensive server workloads. Rather, they need to host multiple real-time applications side-by-side and therefore require as many cores as possible. They also must meet the demands of industrial communications with many small message packets that need to be processed in real time. Again, memory is not as critical compared to database-driven web servers that are used by thousands of people in parallel. It is true that customers can operate COM-HPC Server Size E modules with only 4 RAM bars. However, saving space is also very important for them. That's why we now also offer the Intel Xeon processor in COM-HPC Server Size D," explains Martin Danzer, Head of Product Management at congatec.

For more information, visit congatec.com.