900-9D3C6-00CV-DA0 Nvidia Bluefield-3 B3220sh 200GBE Dual-port Gen5.0 X16 With X16 Pcie Extension Adapter.

Nvidia BlueField-3 B3220SH 200GBE Overview

The Nvidia900-9D3C6-00CV-DA0 BlueField-3 B3220SH is a state-of-the-art data processing unit (DPU) engineered for next-generation data centers, cloud infrastructure, and edge computing environments. Featuring dual-port 200 Gigabit Ethernet (200GBE) connectivity, Gen 5.0 x16 interface support, and a dedicated x16 PCIe extension controller, the B3220SH delivers unmatched performance, scalability, and security. Built on Nvidia 's advanced BlueField-3 architecture, this DPU revolutionizes how data is processed, offloaded, and secured across hyperscale environments.

Core Features of BlueField-3 B3220SH

• Dual-port 200GBE support for ultra-high bandwidth and low latency
• Gen5.0 x16 PCI Express interface with support for full throughput
• Integrated x16 PCIe extension controller for advanced peripheral expansion
• Multi-core Arm architecture optimized for data-centric computing
• High-throughput offloading for security, networking, and storage functions
• Advanced telemetry and real-time visibility into data center traffic

Applications in Modern Data Centers

The Nvidia BlueField-3 B3220SH is purpose-built for next-generation data centers. As workloads increase in complexity and volume, legacy network interface controllers (NICs) struggle to maintain throughput without burdening the host CPU. The BlueField-3 DPU provides offloading capabilities for various infrastructure tasks, freeing CPU resources and dramatically improving performance.

Cloud Service Providers

Hyperscalers and cloud service providers benefit from the BlueField-3 B3220SH’s capacity to accelerate virtualized networking, security policies, and storage access, all while enforcing tenant isolation at the hardware level. The dual 200GBE ports allow for load balancing and high-availability architectures in clustered environments.

Enterprise Data Centers

For enterprises managing hybrid environments, BlueField-3 enables greater control over East-West traffic, improves visibility through in-line telemetry, and supports zero-trust security models. Integrated with Nvidia DOCA (Data Center-on-a-Chip Architecture), IT teams gain access to a comprehensive SDK and tools to develop custom acceleration functions.

Telecommunications and Edge Computing

Telecom providers leverage the BlueField-3 to streamline 5G core networking, vRAN processing, and edge AI inference. Its compact PCIe form factor and low latency profile make it ideal for deployment in distributed edge locations that demand real-time performance.

Dual 200GBE Port Capabilities

With two 200 Gigabit Ethernet ports, the Nvidia BlueField-3 B3220SH pushes networking throughput to the edge of physical limits. This dual-port configuration allows simultaneous bi-directional traffic flow across different network segments or bonded links, enhancing both redundancy and bandwidth.

Advantages of Dual-Port 200GBE

• Increased throughput for AI/ML data sets, virtualization, and HPC workloads
• Enhanced link failover and network resiliency
• Superior load balancing across interfaces
• Improved performance for NVMe over Fabrics (NVMe-oF) storage solutions

200GBE in AI and HPC Environments

High-performance computing (HPC) and AI clusters demand fast data access across thousands of nodes. The B3220SH ensures low-latency communication and high-throughput data transfers, essential for training deep learning models and running parallel simulations.

Support for RoCE and RDMA

The BlueField-3 DPU supports RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE), allowing for direct memory access between servers without CPU involvement. This improves latency and reduces CPU overhead in large-scale computing environments.

Gen5.0 PCIe x16 Interface

The PCI Express Gen5.0 interface ensures high-speed connectivity between the DPU and host systems. With a theoretical bandwidth of up to 64 GB/s in each direction, PCIe 5.0 x16 allows the BlueField-3 to handle the heaviest data center workloads without bottlenecks.

Use Cases for PCIe Gen5.0 x16

• Massively parallel storage access
• High-volume telemetry and packet inspection
• Inline encryption/decryption offloads
• Hyperconverged infrastructure deployments

Performance Benefits over Gen4

Compared to PCIe Gen4, Gen5 doubles the data rate, significantly reducing transaction latency and improving I/O throughput. This makes it suitable for demanding tasks like live packet analytics, zero-trust firewalling, and container-aware networking.

x16 PCIe Extension Controller

One of the standout features of the BlueField-3 B3220SH is its integrated x16 PCIe extension controller. This controller facilitates the connection of additional peripherals, GPUs, or SSDs, expanding the flexibility of server configurations.

Peripheral Expansion

Users can add high-speed NVMe 900-9D3C6-00CV-DA0 drives or AI accelerators directly to the DPU, bypassing the host CPU and reducing latency. This enables modular infrastructure scaling while maintaining central control and offload capabilities.

System-on-a-Chip Integration

The DPU combines networking, storage, and compute functions into a single chip with embedded Arm cores. This tightly integrated architecture simplifies hardware deployments and reduces the system’s power footprint.

Security and Isolation Capabilities

In a world where cybersecurity threats are evolving rapidly, hardware-based security is paramount. The BlueField-3 provides secure boot, inline encryption, TLS acceleration, and root-of-trust authentication for all connected devices.

Zero Trust Infrastructure

BlueField-3 enforces a zero-trust model by isolating tenants at the hardware level and monitoring all network activity in real time. This is critical in multitenant cloud environments, especially when compliance with regulations like HIPAA or GDPR is necessary.

Secure Boot and Firmware Attestation

Ensuring a tamper-proof boot process, the DPU includes cryptographic verification of firmware and system binaries. This prevents rootkits and malicious firmware injections at the earliest stages of system initialization.

Integration with DOCA and DPU Ecosystem

DOCA,900-9D3C6-00CV-DA0 Nvidia s Data-Center-on-a-Chip Architecture, provides a unified programming model, runtime framework, and set of APIs to fully harness BlueField DPUs. Through DOCA, developers can build custom applications that run natively on the Arm cores, providing network security, telemetry, and storage control.

DOCA SDK Advantages

• Rapid development of DPU-native applications
• Seamless integration with Kubernetes, OpenStack, and VMware
• Support for IPsec, TLS, and deep packet inspection
• Telemetry integration with popular observability tools

Use in AI and Data Analytics Pipelines

With DOCA-enabled DPUs, data preprocessing can be offloaded from CPUs and GPUs, freeing up compute resources for machine learning training or inference. This dramatically improves overall pipeline efficiency and cost effectiveness.

Form Factor and Physical Design

The BlueField-3 B3220SH is packaged in a standard low-profile PCIe card form factor, allowing it to fit easily in 1U, 2U, and edge servers. Active cooling and thermal management features ensure stable operation under sustained high workloads.

Deployment Flexibility

Thanks to its compact design, the B3220SH is suitable for traditional data centers, colocation environments, and field-deployed micro data centers. Its design supports hot-plug capability and remote management through baseboard management controllers (BMCs).

Comparison with Competing Solutions

When compared to traditional SmartNICs or software-defined networking (SDN) stacks running on x86 CPUs, the BlueField-3 provides a more scalable and efficient alternative. It reduces latency, lowers power consumption, and delivers hardware-accelerated performance for complex infrastructure tasks.

SmartNIC vs. DPU

While SmartNICs offer basic packet processing and virtual switching, DPUs like the B3220SH incorporate full compute capabilities with multicore processors and dedicated offload engines. This leads to significantly higher performance in zero-trust and microsegmented environments.

Cost-Performance Tradeoffs

The initial investment in a BlueField-3 solution is often offset by reductions in power consumption, server density, and licensing fees for third-party software firewalls or storage controllers.

Firmware and Software Compatibility

The BlueField-3 DPU supports a wide range of operating systems, hypervisors, and orchestration platforms. Its compatibility with Linux distributions, VMware ESXi, Kubernetes, and OpenStack ensures seamless integration into existing infrastructure.

Driver and Firmware Update Tools

Nvidia provides utility tools for secure firmware updates, driver management, and DPU diagnostics. These tools allow IT administrators to maintain up-to-date systems with minimal downtime or risk.

Market Position and Future Scalability

Positioned as a flagship DPU for Nvidia, the B3220SH is expected to serve as a cornerstone for the evolution of secure, high-performance infrastructure. With support for future PCIe and Ethernet standards, this DPU is designed to grow with evolving data center needs.