NVIDIA Mellanox ConnectX-5 MCX556A-ECAT
PCIe 3.0 x16 Dual-Port 100Gb/s EDR InfiniBand & 100GbE VPI Adapter Card
Host Interface
PCIe 3.0 x16
Port Count
2
Port Speed & Connector Type
100Gb/s EDR InfiniBand or 100GbE, QSFP28
Protocol Mode
VPI — firmware-selectable InfiniBand or Ethernet
RDMA / Network Protocol
InfiniBand, RoCE v2
Product Description
The NVIDIA Mellanox ConnectX-5 MCX556A-ECAT is a dual-port VPI (Virtual Protocol Interconnect) adapter card delivering up to 100Gb/s throughput per port over either EDR InfiniBand or 100GbE Ethernet via QSFP28 connectors, with the mode selectable in firmware. Built on the widely-deployed ConnectX-5 architecture, it combines high-bandwidth, low-latency connectivity with hardware offloads for RDMA, NVMe-oF storage acceleration, and network virtualization. Its dual-protocol flexibility makes it a popular choice for data centers that need to standardize on a single adapter SKU across both InfiniBand-based HPC clusters and Ethernet-based cloud or enterprise infrastructure, simplifying procurement and sparing for distributors and system integrators alike.