Description
Xilinx Alveo U50 Data Center Accelerator
The Xilinx Alveo U50 Data Center Accelerator is engineered to deliver powerful, programmable hardware acceleration for the most demanding data-center workloads. Built on the Xilinx UltraScale+ architecture, this compact, 75-watt accelerator card brings FPGA-powered performance to financial computing, machine learning, computational storage, and data search and analytics. Designed for dense, modern data center deployments, the U50 enables organizations to accelerate diverse workloads with low latency, high throughput, and remarkable energy efficiency, all while preserving the flexibility to adapt to evolving workloads over time.
- Optimized acceleration for key workloads: Engineered to accelerate financial computing, machine learning inference and training pipelines, computational storage tasks, and rapid data search and analytics, helping you unlock faster insights and smarter decision-making.
- UltraScale+ architecture for performance and flexibility: Harnesses Xilinx’s cutting-edge FPGA fabric to provide abundant parallelism, reconfigurability, and customizable data paths tailored to your apps, enabling bespoke acceleration pipelines without changing software stacks.
- Small form factor, low power envelope: Built as a compact 75-watt PCIe accelerator card, allowing higher-density configurations in standard servers and data-center racks while keeping energy costs in check.
- Broad ecosystem and developer tooling: Supported by a mature Xilinx software stack, including Vivado, Vitis, and XRT, so developers can implement, optimize, and deploy accelerators with familiar tools and workflows.
- Flexible deployment for modern data centers: PCIe-based acceleration enables simple integration into existing server fleets, with hardware-accelerated workloads that accelerate databases, analytics, and AI inference across a broad range of industries.
Technical Details of Xilinx Alveo U50 Data Center Accelerator
- Product family: Xilinx Alveo U50 Data Center Accelerator
- Architecture: UltraScale+ FPGA-based card for high-performance, configurable acceleration
- Form factor: PCIe-enabled accelerator card designed for standard data-center servers
- Power envelope: Approximately 75 watts, enabling dense deployments and efficient operation
- Target workloads: Financial computing, machine learning, computational storage, data search and analytics, and other data-intensive tasks
How to install Xilinx Alveo U50 Data Center Accelerator
Installing the Xilinx Alveo U50 is designed to be straightforward in a supported data-center server environment. Follow these general steps to integrate the card into your server and get started with acceleration workflows. Always refer to your organization’s hardware policies and the official Xilinx installation guides for exact procedures and compatibility notes.
- Prepare the server: Power down the server, unplug cables, and ensure you have adequate rack space and cooling for the accelerator card. Verify that the server has an available PCIe slot and that your BIOS settings permit PCIe slot enumeration and I/O virtualization if used in your environment.
- Insert the accelerator: Remove the appropriate expansion slot cover and firmly insert the U50 card into a compatible PCIe slot. Secure the card with screws to prevent movement during operation.
- Power and boot: Reconnect power and boot the server. Confirm that the system detects the new PCIe device during POST and in the operating system hardware list.
- Install software stack: Install the Xilinx software stack, including the XRT runtime, device drivers, and development tools (such as Vivado and Vitis) per the official documentation. Configure environment variables and paths as required by your deployment.
- Validate and optimize: Run the provided sample applications or a minimal workload to validate basic functionality. Use profiling and optimization tools to tune your acceleration pipelines for peak performance and efficiency in your specific workloads.
Frequently asked questions
-
Q: What workloads is the Xilinx Alveo U50 best suited for?
A: The U50 is designed to accelerate a broad range of data-center workloads, including financial computing, machine learning inference and preprocessing, computational storage, and data search and analytics. Its reconfigurable FPGA fabric lets you tailor acceleration pipelines to your unique workloads, delivering faster results and lower latency compared with traditional CPU-only approaches.
-
Q: What is the power envelope of the U50?
A: The accelerator is designed around a compact 75-watt power envelope, enabling dense deployments in standard servers while maintaining energy efficiency for modern data centers.
-
Q: How do I program or reprogram the Alveo U50?
A: Programming and reconfiguring the card is done through Xilinx toolchains such as Vivado and Vitis, in combination with the XRT runtime. This enables developers to implement, optimize, and deploy custom FPGA-based acceleration without changing the host application interface.
-
Q: What software stacks are needed to run accelerators on the U50?
A: A typical deployment includes the Xilinx runtime (XRT), device drivers, and the associated development tools (Vivado, Vitis). Depending on the workload, you may also integrate higher-level libraries and frameworks for data analytics, AI, or storage acceleration.
-
Q: Is the U50 compatible with all servers?
A: The U50 is a PCIe-based accelerator card designed for standard data-center servers. Compatibility depends on server PCIe slot availability, power provisioning, and BIOS/firmware support. Always verify with your server supplier and consult the official compatibility guides for your exact model and SKU.
Customer reviews
Showing - Of Reviews