HighPoint on Thursday introduced its Rocket 7638D PCIe 5.0 switch card that is designed to enable Nvidia's GPUDirect interconnection between AI GPUs and NVMe storage devices. The device is designed to speed up AI training and inference workloads when operating with software that fully support GPUDirect.
The latest GPUs from Nvidia (starting from A100) support GPUDirect technologies that enable direct data transfers between GPUs and other devices, such as SSD or network interfaces, bypassing the CPU and system memory to increase performance and free CPU resources for other workloads. However, GPUDirect requires support both from the GPU and from a PCIe switch that supports P2P DMA capability, but not all PCIe Gen5 switches support this feature, which is where switch cards come into play.
HighPoint's Rocket 7638D switch card packs the Broadcom PEX 89048 switch enabling system integrators to build systems with GPUDirect capability. The adapter features 48 PCIe 5.0 lanes: 16 lanes to connect to host, 16 lanes to connect to external GPU box using a CDFP CopprLink connector, and 16 lanes are dedicated to internal NVMe storage devices using MCIO 8i connectors. The MCIO ports support up to 16 NVMe drives, enabling configurations with up to 2PB of high-performance storage.
The Rocker 7638D adapter enables GPUDirect Storage workflows that avoid host CPU and RAM entirely and provide predictable bandwidth (up to 64 GB/s) and latency when paired with compatible software, which includes operating system, GPU drivers, and filesystem. The device (or rather systems that it enables) is particularly useful in scenarios involving large-scale training datasets that use plenty of storage.
Since the the Broadcom PEX 89048 switch chip contains an Arm-based CPU, it is completely independent and self managed, so it is compatible with both Arm and x86 platforms. The adapter works out of the box with all major operating systems, without the need for special drivers or additional software installation.
The Rocket 7638D includes field-service features such as VPD tracking for hardware and firmware matching and a utility that monitors health status and PCIe link performance. These tools simplify troubleshooting and replacement, especially in multi-node or hyperscale installations where hardware tracking matters.
HighPoint did not disclose pricing of its Rocket 7638D switch card, which will probably depend on volumes and other factors.
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