Cisco Nexus V9P-3 200Gigabit Ethernet Card

The Cisco Nexus SmartNIC+ V9P is an FPGA-based network application card engineered for the modern data center where latency, density, and programmability matter as much as raw throughput. Built around a 16nm Xilinx Virtex UltraScale+ VU9P FPGA with 2.5 million logic cells, this device delivers a compelling blend of hardware acceleration and software flexibility. The V9P-3 model is a high-density, low-latency NIC designed to offload critical networking tasks from the host CPU, enabling faster data processing, smarter traffic steering, and dynamic network functions in real time. Its compact, half-height and half-length form factor fits densely populated enclosures, helping data centers scale without sacrificing performance. Whether you’re deploying cutting-edge cloud services, AI/ML inference pipelines, or network function virtualization, the Cisco Nexus V9P-3 is purpose-built to accelerate your workloads while keeping management straightforward within the Cisco Nexus ecosystem.

• High-density, FPGA-powered offloads for speed and efficiency. The V9P-3 leverages the VU9P FPGA to handle a wide range of data plane tasks directly in hardware, reducing host CPU overhead and delivering deterministic, low-latency performance. This programmable fabric enables accelerated packet processing, deep packet inspection, steer-and-forward operations, and custom offload engines tailored to modern multi-tenant workloads. The result is improved throughput with lower latency, allowing applications to respond faster to real-time events and to scale more efficiently as demand grows.

  With its 2.5 million logic cells and advanced fabric, the V9P-3 supports flexible acceleration models that can be updated over time. This means network services—such as DPI, encryption, QoS policy enforcement, and protocol offloads—can be deployed and refined without swapping hardware. In short, you gain a future-proof platform that adapts to evolving workloads while preserving high performance, reliability, and predictability in live data paths.

• Ultra-fast 200G Ethernet capabilities for modern data centers. The V9P-3 is purpose-built to deliver 200 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity, enabling ultra-high-throughput links for scale-out clusters, storage fabrics, and AI/ML pipelines. This level of bandwidth supports dense east-west traffic within hyperscale environments and provides headroom for bursty workloads. The SmartNIC architecture complements traditional NICs by offloading critical functions, accelerating virtualized networks, and enabling high-capacity service chaining without congesting the CPU or the fabric switch. Operators can consolidate multiple software-defined networking tasks onto a single card while maintaining strict performance guarantees.

  Beyond raw speed, the V9P-3 offers flexible porting and traffic-handling capabilities. The device can support a variety of network functions—from high-performance packet routing to streaming analytics—while maintaining low latency across multiple concurrent flows. This makes it ideal for cloud-native deployments, Kubernetes-based service meshes, and NFV scenarios where software efficiency and hardware acceleration go hand in hand to deliver predictable, scalable performance.

• Seamless Cisco Nexus ecosystem integration. Designed to work in concert with Cisco’s Nexus portfolio, the V9P-3 provides native alignment with Cisco management tools, telemetry, and security models. This includes streamlined firmware updates, consistent monitoring, and unified policy control across the data center fabric. By integrating with Cisco’s Nexus platform, operators gain a unified view of both network and compute resources, simplifying operations for multi-tenant environments and enabling rapid rollback, failover, and scaling across racks. The card’s programming model supports Cisco-specific acceleration libraries and validated workflows, ensuring compatibility and reliability in production deployments.

  For administrators, this means fewer silos, faster troubleshooting, and more deterministic behavior in complex topologies. The V9P-3’s architecture supports containerized and VM-based workloads with robust isolation and secure multi-tenancy, ensuring that critical services meet policy and performance objectives without sacrificing flexibility or agility.

• Compact form factor for dense deployments. The half-height, half-length design makes the V9P-3 well-suited for dense data center racks and high-port-count servers. This form factor allows more cards per chassis, maximizing compute density while preserving headroom for other devices. The tight footprint is paired with robust, purpose-built power and thermal management to keep sustained performance under load. IT teams can add substantial acceleration capacity without requiring a larger server chassis or a re-architecture, enabling scalable growth in existing infrastructure.

  In environments with space and power constraints, the V9P-3 preserves efficiency by delivering hardware-accelerated functions in a compact package. Its integration into standard Cisco Nexus server profiles minimizes engineering overhead and accelerates deployment timelines for data centers pursuing aggressive density targets and improved total cost of ownership.

• Flexible programmability and ongoing optimization. The V9P-3 is not a fixed-function NIC; it’s a programmable logic device that supports evolving workloads. This flexibility allows organizations to customize traffic handling, security policies, and service chaining through hardware-accelerated functions that can be updated as requirements shift. The FPGA-based approach ensures you’re not locked into a single set of capabilities—the platform can absorb new features, adapt to emerging protocols, and deliver firmware and software upgrades that optimize performance without hardware replacement.

  Developers and network engineers can leverage a rich toolchain and Cisco-supported libraries to prototype, validate, and deploy new acceleration modules. This capability is especially valuable in environments where workloads are diverse and dynamically changing, such as mixed workloads in cloud data centers or AI-driven analytics pipelines that demand low-latency, deterministic processing at the edge of the compute fabric.

Technical Details of Cisco Nexus V9P-3 200Gigabit Ethernet Card

• FPGA: 16nm Xilinx Virtex UltraScale+ VU9P with 2.5M logic cells for high-density programmable networking acceleration.
• Network throughput: 200 Gigabit Ethernet capability to meet the needs of dense, modern data centers and cloud workloads.
• Form factor: Compact half-height and half-length PCIe card designed for dense server chassis and scalable deployments.
• Host interface: PCIe-based connectivity for flexible integration with a wide range of Cisco Nexus servers and third-party platforms.
• Offload and acceleration: Hardware-assisted packet processing, traffic steering, and network function offloads to reduce host CPU load and improve latency.
• Management and integration: Designed to align with Cisco Nexus management tools, telemetry, and security frameworks for unified control and visibility.

How to install Cisco Nexus V9P-3 200Gigabit Ethernet Card

Step 1: Power down the server and disconnect it from all power sources. Ground yourself to prevent electrostatic discharge and verify that you are working in a static-free environment. Step 2: Open the server chassis and locate a compatible PCIe slot that supports a half-height, half-length NIC. Remove any slot covers if necessary and prepare the card for installation. Step 3: Insert the V9P-3 card firmly into the PCIe slot, ensuring it seats fully and aligns with the connector. Secure the card with the appropriate bracket screw and reassemble the chassis. Step 4: Connect any required high-speed network cables to the 200G Ethernet interfaces as per your topology, ensuring proper cable type and certification for the deployment. Step 5: Power on the server and boot into the operating system. Install or update the Cisco Nexus SmartNIC software and drivers compatible with the V9P-3, following Cisco’s documentation for licensing, firmware, and feature enablement. Step 6: Update the card’s firmware to the latest release and apply any required configuration profiles or acceleration modules. Step 7: Verify the installation with diagnostic commands and monitoring dashboards, confirm link status, throughput, and offload activity, and validate integration with the Cisco Nexus management stack. Step 8: Implement baseline security and performance policies, then monitor performance over time to ensure consistency with service-level objectives. If any issue arises, consult Cisco support resources or the product’s official documentation to troubleshoot compatibility or firmware concerns.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is the Cisco Nexus V9P-3 200Gigabit Ethernet Card? It is an FPGA-based network application card, part of Cisco’s Nexus SmartNIC+ family, designed to accelerate data center networking with 200G Ethernet throughput and a programmable Xilinx Virtex UltraScale+ VU9P FPGA.
• What workloads is it best suited for? The V9P-3 excels in high-density, low-latency environments such as cloud-native deployments, NFV, security and encryption offloads, traffic steering, DPI, and containerized workloads that benefit from hardware acceleration and offload from the host CPU.
• What is the form factor and where can it fit? It uses a half-height, half-length PCIe card form factor, designed to fit in dense server chassis and scale across large data center racks without compromising space or airflow.
• How does it integrate with Cisco Nexus? The V9P-3 is built to align with Cisco Nexus management, telemetry, and security frameworks, enabling a unified approach to policy, monitoring, and orchestration across the data center fabric.
• How do I install and maintain it? Installation involves a standard PCIe insertion, cabling, and driver/firmware setup using Cisco-supported tools. Regular firmware updates and feature modules can be applied through the Cisco Nexus ecosystem to keep the card current and optimized for evolving workloads.