Mellanox ConnectX-3 CX354A Dual-Port VPI Network Adapter

The Mellanox ConnectX-3 CX354A is a high-performance dual-port VPI (Virtual Protocol Interconnect) server network adapter designed for enterprise data centers, high-performance computing (HPC), virtualization, storage networking, and clustered server environments.

Equipped with two QSFP+ ports and a PCI Express 3.0 x8 host interface, compatible FDR versions of the CX354A can provide up to 56Gb/s InfiniBand FDR connectivity and 40 Gigabit Ethernet networking.

Dual-Port QSFP+ Connectivity

The CX354A family features two QSFP+ network interfaces, allowing high-bandwidth connectivity for demanding server and HPC applications. Depending on the exact MCX354A part number, the card can support InfiniBand and Ethernet operation at multiple data rates.

Virtual Protocol Interconnect (VPI)

Mellanox VPI technology enables supported ports to operate using InfiniBand or Ethernet protocols. This provides deployment flexibility for HPC clusters, storage systems, virtualization environments, and enterprise data center networks.

High-Speed InfiniBand

FDR versions such as the MCX354A-FCBT support InfiniBand SDR, DDR, QDR, FDR10, and FDR modes, with speeds reaching up to 56Gb/s FDR per port.

40 Gigabit Ethernet

Compatible FDR CX354A adapters support Ethernet standards including 40GBASE-R4 as well as lower Ethernet rates, providing flexible connectivity for high-speed Ethernet infrastructure.

PCI Express 3.0 x8 Interface

The adapter connects to the server through PCI Express 3.0 x8 with a SERDES rate of up to 8.0 GT/s per lane. PCIe 2.0 and PCIe 1.1 backward compatibility is also documented for the ConnectX-3 adapter family.

Advanced Networking Features

• Virtual Protocol Interconnect (VPI)
• RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE)
• InfiniBand RDMA
• GPUDirect support
• CORE-Direct application offload
• Virtualization and data center networking support
• High-performance computing connectivity

Key Specifications

• Manufacturer: Mellanox Technologies
• Product Family: ConnectX-3 VPI
• Model: CX354A
• Typical FDR Part Number: MCX354A-FCBT / related MCX354A variants
• Network Ports: 2 × QSFP+
• Port Configuration: Dual Port
• InfiniBand Speed: Up to 56Gb/s FDR on compatible FDR models
• Ethernet Speed: Up to 40GbE on compatible models
• Interface: PCI Express 3.0 x8
• PCIe Rate: 8.0 GT/s
• Protocol: InfiniBand / Ethernet VPI
• Application: HPC, Data Center, Storage, Virtualization and Server Clustering