MCX623106AS-CDAT Mellanox QSFP56 100Gbe 2-port Ethernet Adapter

Mellanox MCX623106AS-CDAT 100GbE 2-Port Adapter Overview

The Mellanox MCX623106AS-CDAT ConnectX-6 Dx EN Adapter Card is a high-performance 100GbE Ethernet network adapter engineered for enterprise data centers, cloud infrastructure, artificial intelligence workloads, high-performance computing (HPC), virtualization platforms, and software-defined networking environments. Featuring dual QSFP56 ports, PCI Express 4.0 x16 connectivity, and broad multi-speed Ethernet compatibility, this advanced network interface card delivers exceptional bandwidth, ultra-low latency, outstanding scalability, and reliable connectivity for mission-critical networking applications.

Designed for modern server architectures, the ConnectX-6 Dx Ethernet adapter provides organizations with a future-ready networking solution that supports multiple Ethernet speeds, flexible deployment options, and optimized data transmission. Whether deployed in cloud computing clusters, storage networking, virtualization hosts, or enterprise servers, this adapter offers the performance, reliability, and efficiency required by today's demanding IT infrastructures.

General Information

• Manufacturer: Mellanox
• Part Number: MCX623106AS-CDAT
• Product Type: 100GbE Ethernet Network Adapter
• Adapter Family: ConnectX-6 Dx EN
• Host Interface: PCI Express 4.0 x16
• Network Ports: Dual QSFP56

Technical Specifications

Compact Form Factor

• Dimensions: 5.59 inches × 2.71 inches (142.00 mm × 68.90 mm)
• Designed for modern rack servers
• Optimized for high-density deployments
• Supports enterprise-grade cooling configurations

Dual QSFP56 Connectivity

• Dual QSFP56 Ethernet connectors
• Supports passive copper cables
• Compatible with optical transceivers
• Ideal for spine-leaf architectures
• High-density network connectivity

Multi-Speed Ethernet Support

• 1 Gigabit Ethernet
• 10 Gigabit Ethernet
• 25 Gigabit Ethernet
• 40 Gigabit Ethernet
• 50 Gigabit Ethernet
• 100 Gigabit Ethernet

Comprehensive Ethernet Protocol Support

100 Gigabit Ethernet Protocols

• 100GBASE-CR2
• 100GBASE-CR4
• 100GBASE-KR2
• 100GBASE-KR4
• 100GBASE-SR2
• 100GBASE-SR4

50 Gigabit Ethernet Standards

• 50GBASE-R2
• 50GBASE-R4

40 Gigabit Ethernet Compatibility

• 40GBASE-CR4
• 40GBASE-KR4
• 40GBASE-SR4
• 40GBASE-LR4
• 40GBASE-ER4
• 40GBASE-R2

25 Gigabit Ethernet

• 25GBASE-R

20 Gigabit Ethernet

• 20GBASE-KR2

10 Gigabit Ethernet

• 10GBASE-SR
• 10GBASE-LR
• 10GBASE-ER
• 10GBASE-CR
• 10GBASE-KR
• 10GBASE-CX4

Additional Network Standards

• SGMII
• 1000BASE-CX
• 1000BASE-KX

PCIe Gen 4.0 High-Speed Interface

• PCI Express Gen 4.0 x16
• Compatible with PCIe Gen 3.0
• Backward compatible with PCIe Gen 2.0
• Supports PCIe Gen 1.1 systems
• 16 PCIe lanes
• 16.0 GT/s signaling rate

Enhanced Platform Protection

• Secure Boot enabled
• Crypto disabled configuration
• Improved hardware security
• Reliable firmware validation

Power Consumption and Efficiency

Typical Power Consumption

• 18.7W using passive cables with PCIe Gen 3.0
• 19.52W using passive cables with PCIe Gen 4.0

Maximum Power Consumption

• 25.28W with PCIe Gen 3.0
• 26.64W with PCIe Gen 4.0

QSFP56 Port Power

• Up to 5W available per QSFP56 port

Electrical Characteristics

• Voltage: 3.3V AUX
• Maximum Current: 100mA

Cooling and Airflow Requirements

Reliable Thermal Management

• Passive cable airflow: 550 LFM (Hot aisle, heatsink to port)
• Active 2.5W cable airflow: 700 LFM (Hot aisle, heatsink to port)
• Supports efficient server cooling designs
• Suitable for high-density rack environments

Environmental Specifications

Operating Conditions

Temperature Range

• Operating: 0°C to 55°C
• Storage: -40°C to 70°C

Humidity Range

• Operating: 10% to 85% relative humidity
• Non-operating: 10% to 90% relative humidity

Ideal Enterprise Applications

• Enterprise data centers
• Cloud computing infrastructure
• High-performance computing (HPC)
• Artificial intelligence platforms
• Machine learning clusters
• Virtualized servers
• Software-defined networking (SDN)
• Network function virtualization (NFV)
• Storage networking
• Database servers
• Hyper-converged infrastructure
• Big data analytics
• Media streaming platforms
• Financial trading systems

Key Benefits of the Mellanox MCX623106AS-CDAT

Performance Advantages

• Up to 100GbE networking performance
• Ultra-low latency communication
• High throughput data processing
• Dual-port QSFP56 flexibility
• PCIe Gen 4.0 bandwidth optimization

Scalability Benefits

• Supports multiple Ethernet generations
• Compatible with copper and optical media
• Simplifies network upgrades
• Future-ready enterprise architecture
• Excellent interoperability with modern networking equipment

Mellanox MCX623106AS-CDAT ConnectX-6 Dx EN Adapter Card

The Mellanox MCX623106AS-CDAT ConnectX-6 Dx EN Adapter Card 100GbE Dual-Port QSFP56 PCIe 4.0 x16 represents a new generation of Ethernet networking technology designed for enterprise, cloud, edge, and high-performance computing infrastructures. Built with advanced networking capabilities, this 100GbE Ethernet adapter delivers exceptional throughput, ultra-low latency, and intelligent hardware acceleration that modern data centers demand. Organizations that rely on virtualization, artificial intelligence, machine learning, software-defined storage, network function virtualization, and large-scale cloud computing benefit from the outstanding bandwidth and efficiency offered by this advanced network interface card.

Designed around the powerful ConnectX-6 Dx architecture, this adapter combines high-speed Ethernet connectivity with sophisticated offloading technologies that significantly reduce CPU utilization. By moving networking tasks from the host processor to dedicated hardware, overall application responsiveness improves while servers maintain higher computing efficiency under demanding workloads. The PCI Express 4.0 x16 interface further maximizes communication between the adapter and host system, eliminating bottlenecks associated with previous PCIe generations.

Advanced ConnectX-6 Dx Ethernet Architecture

Purpose-Built for Enterprise Infrastructure

The ConnectX-6 Dx Ethernet platform has been engineered specifically for environments requiring continuous high-bandwidth communication. As organizations expand cloud services and distributed computing environments, networking hardware must provide predictable performance under sustained workloads. The MCX623106AS-CDAT addresses these requirements through a balanced combination of hardware intelligence, advanced packet processing, and scalable Ethernet performance.

Unlike conventional Ethernet adapters that primarily focus on basic packet transmission, the ConnectX-6 Dx family incorporates programmable acceleration technologies that optimize traffic flow throughout enterprise networks. This enables administrators to deploy increasingly demanding applications without compromising network stability or application responsiveness.

Optimized Data Movement

Data-intensive environments continuously exchange large volumes of information between storage arrays, compute nodes, virtual machines, and cloud services. Efficient movement of these workloads requires a network adapter capable of handling simultaneous streams without excessive latency. The dual-port architecture enables multiple communication paths while maintaining consistently high throughput across the entire infrastructure.

100GbE Ethernet Performance for Modern Data Centers

Supporting High-Speed Network Traffic

The 100 Gigabit Ethernet capability enables organizations to consolidate workloads while reducing overall infrastructure complexity. Rather than deploying multiple lower-speed adapters, administrators can leverage fewer high-bandwidth interfaces to simplify network architecture while increasing aggregate throughput.

This level of Ethernet performance is particularly valuable for organizations operating virtualization clusters, private cloud deployments, enterprise storage systems, and software-defined networking platforms. The adapter ensures continuous communication between compute resources and storage infrastructure even during periods of peak utilization.

Consistent Throughput Under Heavy Loads

Modern applications frequently generate unpredictable network traffic patterns. Artificial intelligence training, large database synchronization, virtualization migration, analytics platforms, and distributed storage environments all place unique demands on network hardware. The ConnectX-6 Dx controller maintains reliable throughput while intelligently managing packet delivery, helping organizations sustain operational efficiency across multiple concurrent workloads.

Dual-Port QSFP56 Connectivity Advantages

Flexible Network Design

The dual-port QSFP56 configuration offers increased flexibility when designing resilient enterprise networks. Organizations can implement redundancy, traffic segmentation, load balancing, or multi-network connectivity without requiring additional expansion cards. This approach simplifies server configurations while maximizing available PCIe expansion capacity.

Dual-port operation also supports high availability strategies that minimize service interruptions. If one network path experiences maintenance or temporary disruption, the secondary connection can continue supporting critical business applications depending on the overall network architecture.

Scalable Deployment Options

Large organizations frequently expand networking infrastructure over time. The availability of two independent 100GbE interfaces allows gradual scaling without replacing installed hardware. Network administrators can initially deploy a single connection before activating additional bandwidth as application requirements continue growing.

Enhanced Infrastructure Redundancy

Redundant network connectivity plays an important role in enterprise environments where service availability directly affects productivity and revenue. The dual-port design provides multiple physical communication paths that integrate seamlessly into fault-tolerant architectures, helping reduce the likelihood of network-related downtime.

PCI Express 4.0 x16 High-Speed Host Interface

Maximizing System Bandwidth

The PCI Express 4.0 x16 interface significantly increases communication speed between the network adapter and host server. High-speed PCIe connectivity ensures that incoming and outgoing network traffic reaches processors and memory with minimal delay while fully utilizing available Ethernet bandwidth.

As processors become increasingly powerful, network adapters must keep pace by delivering comparable host interface performance. PCIe Gen4 technology effectively addresses this requirement, allowing organizations to fully exploit multicore server architectures without creating unnecessary communication bottlenecks.

Improved Resource Utilization

Efficient host communication allows virtualization platforms, storage servers, cloud orchestration systems, and enterprise databases to operate with greater consistency. Applications experience improved responsiveness because network data transfers occur more efficiently between hardware components.

Intelligent Hardware Offloading Technologies

Reducing Processor Overhead

One of the defining characteristics of the ConnectX-6 Dx platform is its comprehensive hardware acceleration capabilities. Instead of requiring the server processor to perform every networking task, specialized hardware engines execute many packet processing operations independently. This approach frees valuable CPU resources for application workloads rather than networking administration.

Hardware offloading improves overall server density by enabling virtualization hosts to accommodate additional virtual machines while maintaining excellent networking performance.

Enhanced Application Performance

Applications performing high-frequency communication benefit significantly from reduced networking overhead. Database servers, storage controllers, artificial intelligence platforms, and distributed analytics clusters all experience lower latency and more consistent throughput due to dedicated networking acceleration built directly into the adapter.

Efficient Packet Processing

Specialized packet handling mechanisms reduce software intervention during data transmission, helping maintain stable application performance even when network utilization approaches maximum capacity.

Virtualization and Cloud Computing Optimization

Supporting Virtual Machine Density

Virtualization remains one of the primary drivers for high-performance Ethernet adapters. Organizations continually increase virtual machine density to improve hardware utilization while reducing operational expenses. The MCX623106AS-CDAT supports these objectives by delivering high-speed networking alongside efficient resource allocation.

Virtual machines require predictable networking performance regardless of host utilization. Hardware acceleration contributes to improved consistency by reducing processing overhead traditionally associated with virtualized networking.

Cloud Infrastructure Readiness

Private cloud and hybrid cloud deployments depend on reliable communication between compute resources, storage platforms, orchestration systems, and external services. The adapter enables cloud environments to scale efficiently while maintaining the low latency expected by modern enterprise applications.

Storage Networking Performance

Optimized Data Storage Connectivity

Enterprise storage systems require dependable networking capable of sustaining continuous read and write operations without introducing unnecessary latency. The MCX623106AS-CDAT delivers the performance needed by distributed storage platforms, hyper-converged infrastructure, object storage environments, and software-defined storage solutions.

As storage capacity continues expanding, efficient networking becomes increasingly important for maintaining acceptable backup, replication, and disaster recovery windows. High-speed Ethernet connectivity helps organizations move larger datasets within shorter operational timeframes.

Reliable Storage Replication

Data replication between geographically separated facilities requires stable, high-bandwidth communication. The adapter supports these environments by enabling continuous synchronization between storage resources while maintaining consistent transfer performance.

Security and Enterprise Networking Features

Modern Data Center Protection

Enterprise networking extends beyond bandwidth alone. Secure communication, workload isolation, and reliable packet handling contribute to protecting valuable business information. The ConnectX-6 Dx platform incorporates advanced networking intelligence designed to support evolving enterprise security requirements while maintaining excellent overall performance.

Organizations deploying software-defined networking, virtual network segmentation, and zero-trust architectures benefit from intelligent hardware capabilities that complement broader security frameworks throughout the data center.

Supporting Multi-Tenant Environments

Cloud service providers and enterprise hosting platforms frequently manage multiple isolated customer environments on shared infrastructure. The adapter's advanced networking architecture assists administrators in maintaining efficient resource allocation while preserving predictable networking behavior across tenant workloads.

Scalability for Future Infrastructure Growth

Investment Protection Through Expandability

Enterprise networking investments should continue delivering value as infrastructure evolves. The ConnectX-6 Dx Ethernet adapter supports long-term deployment strategies by providing performance headroom capable of accommodating expanding workloads and increasing network traffic over time.

Organizations modernizing server platforms appreciate hardware that integrates seamlessly into both existing and future networking architectures. The PCIe 4.0 interface, dual-port QSFP56 connectivity, and 100GbE bandwidth collectively provide a foundation suitable for ongoing infrastructure expansion.

Supporting Evolving Workloads

Emerging technologies including edge computing, analytics platforms, distributed databases, artificial intelligence inference, container orchestration, and cloud-native applications continuously increase networking demands. The MCX623106AS-CDAT is well suited for these changing environments because its architecture balances bandwidth, efficiency, latency, and scalability.

Long-Term Enterprise Value

The combination of ConnectX-6 Dx intelligence, 100GbE Ethernet performance, dual-port QSFP56 interfaces, and PCI Express 4.0 x16 connectivity makes the Mellanox MCX623106AS-CDAT an ideal networking solution for organizations seeking dependable, scalable, and high-performance Ethernet infrastructure. Its advanced hardware acceleration, efficient packet processing, enterprise-class reliability, virtualization optimization, cloud readiness, storage networking capabilities, and support for demanding computational workloads position it as an excellent choice for next-generation data centers requiring exceptional networking performance with room for future expansion.