Napatech Expands IPU Portfolio with 400GbE Solution Powered by Altera and Intel

Companies Extend Collaboration to Hot Springs Canyon Architecture

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COPENHAGEN, Denmark – April 18, 2024 – Napatech™ (OSLO: NAPA.OL), a leading provider of programmable Network Interface Cards (NIC), including SmartNICs and Infrastructure Processing Units (IPU) used in cloud, enterprise, and telecom data center networks, today disclosed the expansion of their IPU product line to include 400 GbE solutions. The new offerings are based on an extension of their collaboration agreement with Altera, an Intel company, to expand the Napatech portfolio of SmartNICs and IPUs based on the latest generation of technology from Intel and Altera.

In 2023, Napatech developed the F2070X™ product line of production-grade hardware with turnkey software that delivers a 200 Gbps SmartNIC or IPU for a variety of top applications, services, and use cases. The products are based on Altera’s industry-leading IPU Platform F2000X-PL, anchored by the successful joint effort that delivered F2070X solutions optimized for leading data center use cases that include network, storage, and security offload and acceleration. Strong customer demand and early design-win success have resulted in initial orders for the F2070X, speaking to the value of Napatech’s turnkey solutions.

The next stage of the collaboration is a logical continuation, scaling the platform by 2X in throughput and the option for the 400 Gbps IPU, defined by Altera’s Hot Springs Canyon architecture. It is packed with the latest technology from Intel and Altera, including the powerful Intel^® Xeon^® D processor and Agilex^™ 7 I-Series FPGA. The products also feature an innovative, disaggregated design that unlocks new network architectures, applications, and services. It allows deployment as a SmartNIC that can be expanded to IPU configurations with an optional processor. The disaggregation also provides flexible combinations of FPGA and processor resources that deliver customers the optimal mix of functionality, performance, size, cost, and power while supported in standard, high-volume servers from leading OEMs.

The new SmartNIC and IPU solutions, based on the Hot Springs Canyon architecture, are designed for the highest volume and growth segments for programmable NICs. These include modern cloud and edge computing applications and services, AI infrastructure, disaggregated storage, hybrid multi-cloud enterprise business applications such as data analytics and cybersecurity, and other high-volume, distributed use cases. Combined, these segments are fueling the growth of the programmable NIC market that is forecasted to exceed $5B USD by 2027, according to leading industry research analyst firm Omdia.

Altera and Napatech collaborated on the detailed specifications of the Hot Springs Canyon architecture and initial product designs in partnership with a tier-1, global server OEM that continues to lead in enterprise and cloud data centers. Consequently, this next phase of the partnership again includes significant contributions by all parties reflecting the shared commitment to bringing this differentiated solution to the market.

“The value of offloading infrastructure applications on a dedicated co-processor is widely recognized by hyperscale cloud service providers,” said Manoj Sukumaran, Senior Principal Analyst of Omdia’s Cloud and Data Center Research Practice. “As the data throughput increases from 100G or 200G to 400G, it becomes challenging to do in-line packet processing for latency-sensitive workloads like AI, cybersecurity, and edge computing. The Hot Springs Canyon architecture from Altera, along with Napatech’s turnkey software, provides a compelling product for latency-sensitive & bandwidth-hungry use cases and applications. It is currently one of the fastest growing market segments for programmable Ethernet adapters,” he added.

“Through generations of innovation, Altera and Intel have earned the trust and confidence of cloud, enterprise, and telecom data center operators,” said Jarrod Siket, chief marketing officer at Napatech. “Napatech continues to benefit from their product and technology leadership, as well as sales, marketing, and business development strengths, that help to unlock Napatech’s strategic value for our customers and shareholders.”

“Together with Napatech, we extend the success of Altera’s 3rd generation IPU platform from a majority of the global hyperscale, next wave and AI specialty cloud service providers into the wider public, private, and on-premise data center markets for cloud and enterprise market segments,” said Jim Dworkin, Vice President and General Manager of the Cloud & Enterprise Acceleration Division at Altera. “We are pleased to see Napatech continuing to expand its IPU and SmartNIC portfolio with market-leading hardware and software providing customers with best-in-class, turnkey data center networking, storage, security, and telemetry solutions based on Altera technology.”

Complete, customer-ready IPU solutions will be available from Napatech, uniquely featuring turn-key software packages that are production-grade, fully warranted, and supported, with the same feature-rich and high-velocity software and roadmap available on the F2070X. Early customer access and documentation for the 400GbE solution will begin in the second half of 2024. For more information, please visit www.napatech.com.

Intel, the Intel logo, Altera, the Altera logo, and other marks are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries.

About Napatech
Napatech is the leading supplier of programmable NICs, including SmartNICs and IPUs, used in cloud, enterprise, and telecom data centers. Through commercial-grade software suites integrated with high-performance hardware, Napatech accelerates network infrastructure, security, and storage workloads to deliver best-in-class system-level performance while maximizing the availability of server compute resources for applications, services, and revenue. Additional information is available at www.napatech.com.

No Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may contain forward-looking statements which are only predictions and may differ materially from actual future events or results due to a variety of factors, including but not limited to, business conditions, trends in the industry and markets, global economic and geopolitical conditions, macro-economic factors, and other risks and uncertainties set forth in Napatech’s reports. The matter discussed in this release is based on current expectations and is subject to change. Napatech will not necessarily update this information. For details, visit us at www.napatech.com.