Supermicro X12SDV Platforms
That Intel Fort Columbia solution has a lot of technology targeted for 5G operators. For those that want networking and edge virtualization platforms, Supermicro is launching its X12SDV line.
We have done a large number of Supermicro Xeon D reviews in the past, and we have a solid pipeline coming. First, we wanted to show off the mITX solution, the X12SDV-10C-SPT4F. This is a 10 core board, but one can get as few as 4 cores in this platform (-4C-).
Getting straight to the most exciting part, here we have dual 10Gbase-T and dual SFP28 25GbE ports. If you have seen some of our recent SMB 25GbE switch/ router coverage, you will probably understand why we put a focus on that recently. The 25GbE era of embedded systems is officially here.
Supermicro also has a FlexATX platform. This is the X12SDV-4C-SP6F motherboard that has a lot of I/O. It is being housed in the E300 chassis so it is called the Supermicro SYS-E300-12D-4CN6P.
We have looked at a number of systems in this chassis before, such as the Supermicro E300-9D-4CN8TP. Now we get 25GbE SFP28 as well as quad 1GbE (i350-am2 and two i210’s.)
The system that generated our benchmarks uses a proprietary motherboard form factor but is extremely interesting. This is a front I/O networking box called the Supermicro SYS-110D-16C-FRN8TP. With this, we get dual 25GbE SFP28 ports, two 10Gbase-T ports (X550-AT2), and four 1GbE ports (i350-am4) for an excellent networking loadout.
This is a telecom/ networking platform from Supermicro that uses the X12SDV-(number of cores)-SPT8TF platform. This ranges from 4-20 cores to go along with all of that networking.
Here is a quick look at the topology:
For the virtualization folks, this also supports VT-d.
We are still waiting on some final firmware, but expect a review series as the firmware becomes available. That is a challenge of testing these systems before they are released. We expect GA on these platforms in the March/ April timeframe so they should be available fairly soon.
Final Words
The Intel Xeon D-2700 and D-1700 series is a much-needed upgrade. Intel needed the new line to keep its vision of being able to use the same compute cores in the data center and at the edge alive. Instead of just refreshing the lower-power D-1×00 series, we got a full line refresh easily making this the most impactful launch since the D-1500 series.
Hopefully, in this article, you learned about the Ice Lake-D generation. We also worked very hard to get a variety of systems to show today so a quick thank you to Intel and Supermicro for coming through on this. I have been pestering for months, but I think it is important that we continue the tradition of showing hardware at launch.
The Xeon D series is interesting. We saw platforms focusing on the 5G Open vRAN market as well as more traditional networking markets. Beyond these platforms, Xeon D gets used in many applications from control planes for switches to controls for airplanes. These products will be around for many years so getting new features is not just about what is available today, but also what will be needed in the future. That is why seeing big feature upgrades with this generation is very important.
I’ve waited so long for this. 25G Supermicro gimme now.
Optane DIMM support is not mentioned, is that the use case for the 3rd memory channel slot on the 1700-series?
Does “Up to 100Gbe” total bandwidth or are 2x100Gbe channels to redundant switches supported?
I’m interested in Ice Lake D for storage servers where both the above may become important. Awaiting the replacement for the QuantaGrid SD1Q-1ULH.
Anyone else remember when these chips were still supposed to replace X299 as their latest HEDT platform? (Aka, moving from max 18c/36t Skylake to 20c/40t Ice Lake.)
Pepperidge Farms remembers.
On all of these Xeon D’s Intel lists total BW. So I’d say this one is total 100G. Intel’s always putting “OPTANE” on anything they can so if their foils don’t say it, I’d say its a hard no.
I can’t wait for the reviews!
Looking forward to the D-1700s filtering down to the budget levels in a few years’ time – should make good web servers. We’re still trucking on our D-1521.
The ARK listings are out, and there’s no Optane support FWIW
The Intel ARK listings are out and there’s no Optane on the D-2799 FWIW
@Cooe,
Ice Lake -D (the SOC) was going to replace X299? Or just Ice Lake -HCC generically was going to replace X299? I don’t think Ice Lake -D was ever going to be ~20C/40T, but hey I absolutely could be wrong.
Let’s hope this means the prices in the second hand Xeon D market go down as the older devices get cycled out.
The product listings are up on the Supermicro site: https://www.supermicro.com/en/search?Search=x12sdv
Looks like the whole 1700 series is limited to 16 PCIe Lanes from the CPU, may not be a problem if you can use the integrated networking just something to bear in mind.
https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/series/87041/intel-xeon-d-processor.html