top of page

Rocket 1628A - 4x MCIOx8 Ports

Scale to New Heights with Gen5 x16 Performance

  • Up To 32 NVMe Drives Per PCIe Slot!

  • Massive Storage Capacity - up to 960TB

  • Low Latency & Reliable Connectivity

Rocket 1628A

Rocket 1628A PCIe Gen5 x16 to 4-MCIOx8 NVMe Switch Adapter

HighPoint Rocket 1600 series switch AICs/adapters provide enterprise-class NVMe storage connectivity and administrative capability and are suitable for use with a wide range of industry-standard x86 server and workstation platforms. These versatile, high-performance AICs and Adapters are equipped with our revolutionary PCIe Gen5 Switch Architecture and are capable of directly supporting up to eight NVMe SSDs, or as many as 32 NVMe devices via backplane connectivity.
NVMe media hosted by Rocket 1600 Switch AIC/Adapters will be automatically recognized by any OS platform with Native NVMe driver support. This makes them an ideal for businesses and organizations seeking to enhance critical workflows with flexible, robust and easily managed Gen5 NVMe storage performance.

The Rocket 1628A PCIe Gen5 NVMe Switch Adapter delivers up to 64GB/s of uncompromised Gen5 transfer bandwidth and can support up to eight U.2/U.3 or E3.S NVMe SSDs via four MCIO ports and cable to SFF-8639 or MCIO/SFF-8654/SFF-1002 UBM and VPP compliant backplane connectivity. The compact, robust LP-MD2 form-factor Adapter is broadly compatible with industry-standard server and workstation chassis. Integrated Suprise NVMe Add and Remove technology provides true Hot-Plug/Hot-Swap support, which enables administrators to add or remove SSDs while the host platform remains active. The integrated OOB (out-of-band) Management capability can significantly streamline service and maintenance workflows.

Key Features


  • 8-Dedicated PCIe 5.0 device channels

  • 4x MCIO ports can directly support up to 8x U.2/U.3 or E3.S NVMe SSDs, and as many as 32 via backplane connectivity

  • High-Performance 48-Lane Gen5 Switch Architecture: x16 lanes of dedicated upstream & x4 lanes of downstream bandwidth for each device channel

  • Delivers 64GB/s of Bandwidth & Real-world Sustained transfer speeds up to 56,000MB/s

  • Integrated NVMe Hot-Plug & Hot-Swap Capability

  • Advanced PCIe Gen5 Cooling Solution

  • Hardware Secure Boot

  • Plug & Play Installation for any OS with Native NVMe driver support

High-Performance Gen5 Switching Architecture

48 Lanes of Dedicated PCIe Gen5 Bandwidth


HighPoint's High-Performance PCIe Gen5 switching architecture integrates Broadcom’s 48-Channel PEX89048 switch IC to provide x16 lanes of dedicated PCIe Gen5 upstream bandwidth and x4 lanes of dedicated downstream bandwidth to each device channel. The innovative architecture enables the Rocket 1628A to deliver up to 64GB/s of transfer bandwidth, minimize latency, and facilitate consistent, robust I/O throughput.


The Architecture employs a technique known as a “Synthetic Hierarchy” to isolate the host system’s OS from any PCIe topology changes. This enables the Rocket 1628A to directly manage resource allocation to the downstream PCIe channels and provide true Hot-Swap /Hot-Plug capability by facilitating a more efficient interaction between the host CPU and PCIe switch.

Integrated NVMe Hot-Plug & Hot-Swap Capability

The Rocket 1628A features incoporates Suprise NVMe Add and Remove technology to deliver true Hot-Plug/Hot-Swap support; an essential feature for any professional server and datacenter platform. Administrators can safely add or remove SSDs while the host platform remains active.


The Rocket 1628A employs a technique knwon as Synthetic Hierarchy to isolate the host operating system from any PCIe topology changes (physical changes) and any events associated with the sudden addition or removal of an NVMe device.



Dynamic Scalability

The Rocket 1628A's integrated PEX Switch IC enables the Adapter to support up to 32 individual NVMe devices (2.5” U.2/U.3 or E3.S SSDs). 


The architecture is capable of dynamically distributing bus bandwidth as needed, to ensure hosted storage devices keep pace with the target application and workflow. For example, if the adapter is configured to support 32 devices, the PCIe switch will reshuffle the bifurcation setting from x4 lanes per MCIO port to x1 lanes.


Zero-Maintenance PCIe Gen5 Cooling Solution

The Rocket 1628A's passive, fan-less cooling system pairs copper piping with an aluminum heat exchanger for maximum thermal efficiency & durability. This Zero-Maintenance design is ideal Server & Data Center applications .


Intelligent Self-Diagnostic LEDs

The Rocket 1628A adapter features Built-In Early Warning LED Indicators. 

Simple color coding and flash-patterns enable administrators to instantly asses the operational status and condition of hosted SSDs and RAID arrays, the strength of the PCIe connection, and temperature of the PCIe switch hardware.


OOB Management

The Rocket 1628A provides OOB (out-of-band) management capability; an essential component of datacenter server infrastructure. BMC and MCTP over PCIe enables administrators and service technicians to securely interface with the NVMe AIC without the need for internet access. The service is scalable and can be used to administrate multiple servers via Linux command prompts to manage storage in both Pre-OS and OS-level environments.

Software and Documents

Product Model

Rocket 1628A (R1628A)

Hardware Features

Bus Interface

PCIe 5.0 x16

Number of Channel / Port

8x Device Channels / 4x MCIO Ports (Dedicated PCIe 5.0 x8 per MCIO)

Connector Type

MCIO (SFF-1016 8x)

Connector Pinout Definition

SFF-9402 Compliant

Number of devices

8 (direct) / Up to 32 (via backplane)

Data Port Reconfiguration (Downstream Configuration: 1x16 /2x8 /4x4 /8x2 /16x1 )

Yes

SSD Form Factor

U.2, U.3, E3.S (via cabling accessories)

SRIS and REFCLK Support

TBA; please contact Sales for more information

Downstream port containment

Yes

Read tracking

Yes

Synthetic Hierarchy

Yes

LED Indication

Intelligent, Self-Diagnostic LEDs

FRU Support

Yes

SSD Hot-Plug/Hot-Swap Support

Yes

OOB Management

Yes (BMC and MCTP over PCIe)

Storage Security Suite

Hardware Secure Boot

Yes

Mechanical Specifications

Form Factor

LP-MD2

Card Dimensions

155mm x 68.9mm with primary component 14.1mm

Card Weight

0.75 lbs.

PCIe Bracket

Full-Height Ventilated Bracket

Cooling Solution

Advanced PCIe Gen5 Cooling Solution
• Full-Length Aluminum Heatsink (Passive) • Copper piping • Compliant with PCIe Specifications

Supported Systems

OS

Compatible with all operating systems that have native NVMe driver support

Secure Boot

Yes

Operating Environment

Working Temp.

0°C ~ + 55°C

Storage Temp.

-20°C ~ +80°C

Operating Voltage

PCIe: 12V(+/- 8%), 3.3V (+/- 8%)

Power

16.26W

MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure)

> 5,000,000 hours at 40° C

Kit Contents

Kit Contents

Rocket 1628A NVMe Switch Adapter
Low-Profile Ventilated Bracket
QIG

Optional Accessories

Cabling

CIO8-8639-110
CIO8-CIO8-110
CIO8-1002-110
8654-CIO8-110
Specifications
Resources
FAQ

Q1: Payload=256k SSD is not recognized or shows a “Yellow Mark” in the OS. How can it be solved?


Q2: Why is the Western Digital SN630 NVMe SSD hot-plug recognition slow and takes 20s?


Q3: Why do disks become unrecognized after entering the system with a full load of disks (including the Western Digital SN640 or SN630 NVMe SSD), hot-plug all disks, and then hot-plugging the disks back into the system in an unordered fashion?

bottom of page