PGDP2 Dell Nvidia Connectx-6 Lx Dual Port 10/25GbE SFP28 OCP NIC

DELL PGDP2 Nvidia ConnectX-6 Lx Dual Port 10/25GbE SFP28 – Advanced Network Adapter

The DELL PGDP2 Nvidia ConnectX-6 Lx network card is a high-performance, dual-port 10/25GbE SFP28 interface designed for next-generation cloud, telecom, and enterprise infrastructures. It seamlessly integrates into scalable environments while enhancing security and reducing latency.

Brand & Model Details

• Manufacturer: Dell
• Model Number: PGDP2
• Product Category: Network Adapter

Key Attributes and Technological Enhancements

• Empowered by ConnectX-6 Lx SmartNIC architecture for next-gen networking performance.
• Dual-port SFP28 support offers robust bandwidth with flexible 10GbE and 25GbE connectivity.
• Engineered to reduce total ownership cost through efficient power utilization and compact design.
• Advanced security frameworks including hardware-based root of trust and secure boot capabilities.
• Ideal for cloud-native deployments, high-throughput applications, and software-defined data centers.

Broad Compatibility with PowerEdge Servers

This NIC supports a vast range of Dell EMC PowerEdge servers, ensuring seamless integration across modern infrastructures.

Supported Systems Include:

• PowerEdge C6520, C6525
• PowerEdge R450, R550, R650, R650xs, R6525
• PowerEdge R660, R6615, R6625
• PowerEdge R750, R750xa, R750xs, R7525
• PowerEdge R760, R760xa, R7615, R7625
• PowerEdge XE9640

Optimized for Modern Network Demands

Designed with enterprise-grade workloads in mind, the PGDP2 SmartNIC ensures stability, speed, and scalability in demanding environments.

• Low-latency packet processing tailored for data-heavy applications
• Superior throughput efficiency with reduced CPU overhead
• Support for virtualization, container orchestration, and SDN integration

Cutting-Edge Performance in Compact Form

Despite its compact OCP 3.0 form factor, the DELL PGDP2 ConnectX-6 Lx offers uncompromising power, delivering:

• Improved reliability through advanced offloading and traffic steering technologies
• Reduced energy footprint in high-density server environments
• Quick deployment and ease of maintenance with hot-plug support

Future-Proof Your Infrastructure

Whether upgrading a cloud cluster or refreshing an on-premises data center, this NIC positions your network for future demands.

• Compatible with high-bandwidth backbones and modern fiber infrastructure
• Integrated telemetry for proactive performance monitoring
• Ready for AI, machine learning, and edge-compute workloads

PGDP2 Dell Nvidia ConnectX-6 Lx Dual Port 10/25GbE SFP28 OCP NIC Overview

The PGDP2 Dell Nvidia ConnectX-6 Lx Dual Port 10/25GbE SFP28 OCP Network Interface Card (NIC) is a high-performance, scalable, and reliable networking solution designed to meet the demands of modern data centers and enterprise environments. Featuring dual SFP28 ports, this OCP 3.0-compliant network adapter delivers exceptional throughput, reduced latency, and a suite of security and offload capabilities that optimize server performance and network efficiency.

Unmatched Performance for Modern Data Centers

The ConnectX-6 Lx delivers up to 50Gb/s aggregate throughput through two 10/25GbE ports, enabling high-bandwidth applications to operate at full speed. This network adapter is optimized for performance-intensive workloads including high-frequency trading, artificial intelligence, machine learning, cloud computing, and storage over Ethernet (NVMe-oF and iSCSI).

Dual Port SFP28 Connectivity

Each port on the PGDP2 NIC supports either 10GbE or 25GbE, providing flexibility for network upgrades and scalability. The use of SFP28 optical modules ensures compatibility with various transceivers and direct attach cables, simplifying deployment in mixed network environments.

Seamless Integration with Existing Infrastructure

Whether deploying in legacy 10GbE networks or upgrading to 25GbE backbones, the PGDP2 NIC allows enterprises to future-proof their infrastructure while maintaining backward compatibility with older hardware.

Advanced OCP 3.0 Form Factor Design

Designed to fit into Open Compute Project (OCP) servers, the ConnectX-6 Lx is fully compliant with the OCP 3.0 specification. This allows seamless integration into modern hyperscale and cloud environments where power efficiency and modularity are essential.

Thermal and Power Efficiency

OCP 3.0 design improves thermal efficiency, allowing for better airflow in dense server racks. The PGDP2 NIC maintains high performance while minimizing power consumption, which is vital for reducing operational costs in scale-out deployments.

Tool-less Maintenance

Thanks to the OCP 3.0 standard, the PGDP2 NIC supports tool-less installation and removal, simplifying server maintenance and reducing downtime for hardware replacement or upgrades.

Cutting-Edge Offload and Acceleration Technologies

The Dell Nvidia ConnectX-6 Lx NIC is engineered with offload and acceleration features that reduce CPU overhead and enhance application performance.

SR-IOV and DPDK Support

Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) enables efficient resource allocation across virtual machines (VMs), significantly improving network performance in virtualized environments. The Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK) further enhances packet processing speeds, vital for network function virtualization (NFV) workloads.

Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA)

RDMA support via RoCE v2 (RDMA over Converged Ethernet) allows direct memory access from one system to another without CPU intervention. This drastically reduces latency and CPU cycles, making it ideal for applications like distributed databases and storage.

NVMe over Fabrics (NVMe-oF) Optimization

The PGDP2 NIC accelerates storage operations by optimizing NVMe-oF protocols over Ethernet, which enhances performance in flash storage networks and enables scalable, low-latency storage access.

Encryption and Secure Boot Capabilities

Hardware-based security features ensure data protection from unauthorized access. Secure boot support ensures firmware integrity and protects against threats during initialization.

Deployment Scenarios for PGDP2 ConnectX-6 Lx NIC

This network interface card is versatile across a range of deployment environments. From traditional data centers to cloud-native architectures, it addresses various networking challenges.

High-Performance Computing (HPC)

The PGDP2 NIC supports low-latency networking and high throughput, making it suitable for scientific simulations, genomics, and research environments where data volume and compute demand are high.

Cloud Infrastructure and Virtualization

Virtualized environments benefit from the NIC’s SR-IOV support and advanced packet filtering, ensuring isolation and optimal resource use in multi-tenant clouds. It integrates seamlessly with VMware, Hyper-V, and KVM platforms.

AI and Machine Learning Workloads

AI models and ML pipelines require rapid data transfers across GPU servers and storage arrays. The PGDP2’s high-bandwidth, low-latency networking meets these demands, supporting real-time training and inference operations.

Containerized Environments

With Kubernetes becoming standard for cloud-native deployment, the PGDP2 NIC enables container networking plugins (CNI) with support for features like RDMA and DPDK, accelerating microservice communication.

Storage-Centric Architectures

NVMe-oF, iSCSI, and NFS performance improves significantly when leveraging the ConnectX-6 Lx NIC. This enhances data throughput for mission-critical storage systems, including Dell PowerStore and Unity platforms.

Compatibility and Supported Platforms

The PGDP2 NIC is validated for use with Dell PowerEdge servers and offers broad compatibility with other vendors and operating systems, including Linux, Windows Server, and VMware ESXi.

Compatible Dell Servers

• PowerEdge R650, R750, R7525, and R6515
• PowerEdge C6525, XR11, and XR12
• Edge and rugged servers with OCP 3.0 slot

Operating System Support

The PGDP2 NIC supports leading operating systems:

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
• Ubuntu and Debian-based distributions
• Windows Server 2019 and 2022
• VMware ESXi 6.7 and 7.x

Hypervisor Integration

Hypervisor support includes VMware vSphere with SR-IOV passthrough, Microsoft Hyper-V virtual switch compatibility, and open-source hypervisors like Xen and KVM with DPDK acceleration.

Benefits of Choosing the PGDP2 Network Adapter

The PGDP2 NIC offers several compelling advantages for enterprise buyers and data center operators.

Scalability for Enterprise Growth

Its dual-speed operation supports today’s 10GbE infrastructure while enabling future upgrades to 25GbE, ensuring long-term return on investment.

Enhanced Security and Compliance

With secure firmware updates and secure boot, the PGDP2 NIC supports compliance with NIST and other data security frameworks, reducing risk across IT environments.

Reduced TCO with Efficient Networking

By offloading compute-intensive tasks from the CPU, the NIC reduces server workload, increasing efficiency and lowering the total cost of ownership (TCO).

High Availability and Redundancy

Dual-port redundancy provides failover capability, ensuring uptime in high-availability architectures like active-passive server configurations and clustering.

Ideal for Edge Deployments

The PGDP2’s compact OCP 3.0 form factor and robust security make it ideal for edge locations where space and security are at a premium.

The Dell and Nvidia for Enterprise Networking

Combining Dell’s server engineering with Nvidia’s industry-leading networking technologies, the PGDP2 NIC represents a reliable, performance-focused choice for enterprise and cloud environments.

Trusted by Leading Enterprises

Dell and Nvidia solutions are deployed in Fortune 500 companies, hyperscale data centers, government facilities, and research institutions worldwide.

Broad Ecosystem Integration

Whether you operate hybrid cloud, bare metal, or software-defined data centers, this NIC is compatible with Dell OpenManage, Redfish API, and other orchestration tools.

Longevity and Product Lifecycle Support

With multi-year availability and Dell ProSupport options, businesses can rely on long-term performance and minimal disruption due to hardware changes.

Ideal Use Cases for the PGDP2 OCP Network Interface Card

Organizations can leverage the PGDP2 NIC in a wide range of applications tailored to performance, scalability, and security.

Software-Defined Networking (SDN)

Use the PGDP2 in SDN environments for controller-based traffic management, providing granular control and rapid provisioning of network services.

Database and Transaction Systems

Accelerate database query speeds and reduce latency in high-transaction environments such as banking, retail, and e-commerce with RDMA capabilities.

Video Streaming and Content Delivery Networks (CDN)

The high throughput and dual-port configuration are well-suited for CDN edge caching servers and media streaming nodes requiring robust uplink capacity.

Private Cloud and OpenStack Platforms

Deploy in OpenStack or private cloud environments using Neutron plugins and SR-IOV networking for optimized VM-to-VM communication and load balancing.

Disaster Recovery and Backup

High-bandwidth networking ensures quick replication and backup across data centers, reducing RTO and enhancing business continuity strategies.