FPGA Infrastructure Processing Unit (IPU)
IPUs are advanced infrastructure acceleration platforms based on Altera FPGAs and Intel® Xeon® D Processors.
FPGA Infrastructure Processing Unit (IPU)
IPUs Accelerate Cloud Infrastructure Workloads
Altera IPUs are networking devices that pair the powerful Intel® Xeon® D processor alongside a high-performance, tightly coupled Altera FPGA. These IPUs are an evolution of the SmartNIC product line, designed with an FPGA to securely accelerate and manage infrastructure workloads with flexible hardware and software programmability. Altera offers IPU development platforms, and Altera partners offer production-ready solutions available for purchase.
"Classic" Enterprise Data Center vs. IPU Data Center
Unlike the classic Enterprise Data Center Approach, IPUs are designed to offload the entire networking and storage stack from the host processor, accelerating compute-intensive cloud infrastructure workloads while providing an extra layer of security built into the hardware. FPGA IPUs typically accelerate infrastructure functions like network virtualization, storage virtualization, security isolation, and providing root-of-trust.
Products
Altera FPGA IPU Platforms are targeted for workloads, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Open vSwitch (OVS), NVMe over Fabrics (NVMeoF), RDMA over Converged Ethernet v2 (RoCEv2), and Security (TLS, TCP, RoT).
IPU Platform F2000X-PL
• 2 x 100 GbE connectivity
• Agilex™ 7 FPGA F-Series
• Intel® Xeon® D-1736 SoC
• PCIe 4.0 x 16
IPU Platform C5000X-PL
• 2 x 25 GbE connectivity
• Stratix® 10 DX FPGA
• Intel® Xeon® D Processor
• PCIe 4.0 x 8
Solution Brief: IPUs Improve Network Latency in Microservices-Based Applications
Solution Brief: Accelerate Your Data Center with Intel® FPGAs
Solution Brief: IPU-Based Cloud Infrastructure: The Fulcrum for Digital Business
Platform Selector Guide
| Features | IPU Platform F2000X-PL | IPU Platform C5000X-PL |
|---|---|---|
| Platform Category | ||
| Target Market | IPU for CSP | IPU for CSP |
| Type | Altera FPGA IPU | Altera FPGA IPU |
| FPGA Resources | ||
| FPGA | Agilex™ 7 FPGA F-Series | Stratix® 10 DX |
| Logic Elements | 2,300K | 1,325K |
| On-Chip Memory | 222 Mb | 114 Mb |
| DSP Blocks | 3,200 | 5,184 |
| Processor | ||
| Type | 8-core Intel® Xeon® D Processor |
Intel® Xeon® D-1612 Processor |
| Memory | ||
| DDR4 | 16 GB FPGA, 16 GB SoC |
20 GB FPGA |
| SRAM | - | - |
| HBM | - | - |
| Flash | 2 Gb |
1.25 Gb |
| Interfaces and Modules | ||
| PCI Express | 4.0 x 16 | 3.0 x 8, 4.0 x 8 (Option) |
| QSFP Interface | 2x QSFP with up to 2x100 GbE configuration | - |
| Network Interface | 2x 100 Gbps |
2x 25 Gbps |
| MAX® 10 FPGA Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) | Option for MAX® 10 BMC | Option for MAX® 10 BMC |
| Mechanical, Thermal, and Power | ||
| Form Factor | Full Height, ¾ Length Single Slot Optional: Full Height, 1/2 Length Dual Slot |
Full Height, 1/2 Length |
| Width | Single or Dual Slot |
Single Slot |
| Maximum Power Consumption (TDP) | 150 W |
36 W (FPGA) + 22/30 W (Intel Xeon D processor 4C/8C) |
| Tools Support | ||
| Open FPGA Stack (OFS) | Yes | No |
| Quartus® Prime Software | Yes | Yes |
| Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK) | Yes | Yes |
| Infrastructure Programmer Development Kit (IPDK) | Yes | No |
| Storage Performance Development Kit (SPDK) | Yes | Yes |
| P4 Programmable | Yes | No |
| How to Buy | ||
| Contact | Napatech IPU Adapter F2070X | Inventec IPU Adapter C5020X |
| Silicom IPU Adapter C5010X | ||
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
Altera delivers and supports the reference platform hardware and software, while our partners bring these platforms to production and provide solution support. You can purchase a production-ready solution from one of our partners.
Unlike the SmartNIC, IPUs include an Intel® Xeon® D processor complex that enables the entire networking and storage stack to be offloaded from the host processor onto the IPU. By offloading both the control and data planes from the host onto the IPU, service providers also gain an extra layer of security and control, enforced in hardware by the IPU.
Partner Offerings
Discover Altera-based partner offerings for FPGA board solutions in the Intel Partner Showcase.