PLX Switches Selected to Provide Unique x16 PCI Express Bandwidth for CPU-GPUs in HP ProLiant Servers

The new HP ProLiant SL390s G7 4U servers, with PLX switches enabling system fan-out, are part of the SL6500 Scalable System family of HP server solutions optimized for scale-out and HPC market segments. With high-density trays in half-width form factors, the SL390 family allows system designers to greatly reduce costs and maximize efficiency by sharing power supplies and fans. HP ProLiant SL390s G7 4U servers are built to enable massive compute environments with modular architectures that reduce components and maximize return on investment.

The HP SL390 solutions have been implemented in several of the TOP500 Supercomputer implementations across the globe. HP currently holds a prestigious rank of fourth on the TOP500 and the second rank on the Green TOP500, with both installations featuring the GPU-intensive computation capabilities of the SL390s servers.

The PLX PEX8664 (64 lanes, 16 ports) and PEX8647 (48 lanes, 3 ports) PCIe Gen2-compliant switches were chosen by HP for their industry-leading performance, x16 support, low power and latency, and flexible port configurations. The PLX switches offer exclusive x16 port flexibility to each GPU in the SL390s 4U, thereby offering optimal performance and efficiency. These specialized features, coupled with the SL system’s modular design, enable maximum GPU-CPU rack-mount density.

The PLX switches help reduce the total cost of ownership by allowing for a fully integrated solution versus forcing customers to purchase multiple cables, host interface controllers and miscellaneous options that drastically increase aggregate cost. The vast amount of additional components and cables also lend themselves to possible service issues when installed in heavily dense configurations. The SL6500 further lessens this issue with front cabling, which is ideal for secured data center hot-aisles or ultra-dense implementations.

“PLX’s business relationship with HP has helped us improve our products and services by meeting the high standards of this industry leader,” said Gene Schaeffer, PLX vice president of worldwide sales. “We have carried that success into our recently announced PCI Express Gen3 switch family and look forward to continued engagement with HP on opportunities in its next generation of designs.”

“Customers are looking for infrastructure technology that more efficiently utilizes power and cooling resources to lower operating costs,” said Glenn Keels, director of marketing, Service Provider and High Performance Computing Business, HP. “The HP ProLiant SL390s G7 4U servers, supported by PLX PCIe technology, deliver an architecture designed to optimize a scalable graphical processing unit (GPU) platform to achieve greater power efficiency.”

PLX’s family of more than 40 highly configurable PCIe switches includes exclusive software-driven on-chip hardware debug and monitoring features, such as measurement of the SerDes eye inside the device, PCIe packet generation to saturate x16 ports, error injection into live traffic, error logging, and port utilization count. Additionally, the switches provide PCIe and traffic monitoring for easy bring-up of PCIe systems that would otherwise require days of lab set-up and hundreds of thousands of dollars in test and measurement equipment. PLX PCIe Gen2 switches have been in full production since early 2008 and the company is currently shipping more than a million PCIe devices per quarter to global designers and sampling the industry’s only PCIe Gen3 switches.