congatec – a leading vendor of embedded and edge computing technology – celebrates the world premiere for x86 based COM-HPC Server modules by announcing the availability of three new Server-on-Module families parallel to the launch of the brand-new Intel Xeon D processor family, formerly codenamed Ice Lake D.

The new COM-HPC Server modules in Size E and Size D as well as the COM Express Type 7 modules will accelerate the next generation of real-time microserver workloads in rugged environments and extended temperature ranges. Improvements include up to 20 cores, RAM to up to 1 TB, double throughput per PCIe lanes to Gen 4 speed, as well as up to 100 GbE connectivity and TCC/TSN support. Target applications range from industrial workload consolidation servers for automation, robotics and medical backend imaging to outdoor servers for utilities and critical infrastructures – such as smart grids for oil, gas and electricity as well as rail and communication networks – and also includes vision enabled applications such as autonomous vehicles and video infrastructures for safety and security.
 
x86 based COM-HPC Server
congatec’s Intel Xeon D-1700 and D-2700 processor based Server-on-Modules in COM‑HPC Server Size E, Size D and COM Express Type 7 form factor (from right to left)

Milestone

“The launch of our massive workload accelerating Intel Xeon D processor based COM-HPC Server-on-Modules is a milestone for the various edge server industries in three respects,” explains Martin Danzer, Director of Product Management at congatec. “First, Intel Xeon D processor based Server-on-Modules now target not only standard industrial environments but also outdoor and in-vehicle applications due to the extended temperature range support. Second, the worldwide first x86 COM-HPC Server-on-Modules extend the available number of cores for the first time to 20 and with up to 8 RAM sockets enable massively more memory bandwidth, which is essential for server workloads. Third, these server modules have real-time capabilities both with respect to the processor cores and TCC/TSN enabled real-time Ethernet. This is a combination that many OEMs have been eagerly waiting for.”
 
Besides the huge bandwidth and performance improvements, congatec’s three new Server-on-Module families will significantly extend the lifecycle of next-gen rugged edge server designs compared to common servers as long-term availability of up to ten years is planned. The module families further convince with a comprehensive server-grade feature set: For mission critical designs, they offer powerful hardware security features including Intel Boot Guard, Intel Total Memory Encryption – Multi-Tenant (Intel TME-MT) and Intel Software Guard Extensions (Intel SGX). AI applications benefit from built-in hardware acceleration including AVX-512 and VNNI. For best RAS capabilities, the processor modules integrate the Intel Resource Director Technology (Intel RDT) and support remote hardware management features such as IPMI and redfish.