ExpEther is a technology that can extend the PCI Express bus beyond the confines of a computer chassis via Ethernet without any modification of existing hardware and software. So, Computing resources like GPUs, NVMe, SSDs video boards can be added to a standard ethernet fabric as if adding such resources directly into the chassis to provide scale up flexibility Therefore, ExpEther can build a new type of computing environment without localized physical constraints and is cost effective with the use of standard Ethernet equipment.

1. ExpEther Technology
ExpEther I/O Disaggregated System
The technology innovation of ExpEther expands the power of the PCI
Express switch beyond the computer chassis via Ethernet without
modification of existing hardware and software. Additional computer
resources can be added to a standard Ethernet fabric rather than the
computer chassis, providing impressive scale-up flexibility.
ExpEther
HBA
I/O Expansion Unit
with PCIe Cards
Server L2 Switch
PCI Express
Standard
Ethernet
PCI Express
ExpEther
Engine
Memory
I/O Device
ExpEther
Engine
CPU
ExpEther can configure a resource pool system with I/O nodes that are disaggregated from the computer nodes.
Compute Node
Accelerator
Node
Storage
Node
CPU/
Chipset
ExpEther
HBA
CPU/
Chipset
ExpEther
HBA
EE Client
Remote I/O Node
KVM
USB
Ctrl
IO Box
Sensors
ExpEther
Engine
PCIe TLP
PCIe TLP
ExpEther
Engine
USB
Ctrl
Ether
Switch
Ether
Switch
PCIe TLP
Ether
Switch
GPU
GPU
GPU
GPU
ExpEther
Engines
FPGA
FPGA
FPGA
FPGA
ExpEther
EnginesAccelerator
Engines
NVMe All
Flash Array
PCI Express
Compliant
Flexible
Scale Up
Dynamic
Connectivity
Reliable
Transport
Dual-Path
x2 Throughput
Low Latency
NVMe
SSDNVMe
SSDNVMe
SSDNVMe
SSD
ExpEther
Engines
NVMe
SSDNVMe
SSDNVMe
SSDNVMe
SSD
ExpEther
Engines
NVMe
SSDNVMe
SSDNVMe
SSDNVMe
SSD
ExpEther
Engines
NVMe
SSDNVMe
SSDNVMe
SSDNVMe
SSD
ExpEther
Engines
Ethernet
Distributed PCI Express Switch Over Ethernet
September 2016

2. ExpEther Technology
40G ExpEther Products
Case : Resource Pool System for HPC (Osaka University)
Case : Medical Analytics System Case : Virtual Reality Simulation
ExpEther Host Bus Adapter ExpEther I/O Expansion Unit
• 40GbE QSFP+ x 2 ports
• x8 PCI Express 3.0 (8GT/s)
• PCIe Low Profile Form-factor
• 40GbE QSFP+ x 4 ports
• x8 PCI Express 3.0 (8GT/s)
• x16 PCIe slot x 4 slots
64 servers and 70 I/O devices are connected by 10G ExpEther products for research in Osaka University.
I/O Devices : GPUs, Flash Storages and VDI accelerators
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
SAS JBOD
SAS JBOD
SAS JBOD
SAS Ctrl
GPUs
GPUs
TOR SW
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
SAS JBOD
SAS JBOD
SAS Ctrl
GPUs
GPUs
TOR SW
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
SAS JBOD
SAS JBOD
SAS Ctrl
GPUs
GPUs
TOR SW
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
SAS JBOD
SAS JBOD
SAS Ctrl
GPUs
GPUs
TOR SW
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
PCoIP
K2 GRID
GPUs
GPUs
TOR SW
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
NIC
PCIe Flash
GPUs
GPUs
TOR SW
System is configured
according to user requirement
CPU
GPU
GPU
GPU
GPU
HDD
HDD
Flash
Flash
Server
Demand for real-time analytics using high resolution images and data
has increased in the medical market.
ExpEther allows an existing server to add large numbers of GPUs or
FPGAs for accelerated image processing.
With a greater number of GPUs increases to utilize, virtual reality
simulations are more realistic.
ExpEther provides cost-effective multi GPU/FPGA hetero-computing system
by plug-in necessary GPU/FPGAs to a conventional inexpensive server.
MRI/CT Scanner Virtual Reality System
for Manufacturing
Service Acceleration
Platform
Doctor Room
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Image Data
Real-time 3D image
ExpEtherClient
Server
Server
Server
Server
Ether Switch
ExpEther Engine
GPU
GPU
GPU
FPGA
FPGA
FPGA
EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa)
NEC Enterprise Solutions
www.nec-enterprise.com
Corporate Headquarters (Japan)
NEC Corporation
www.nec.com
North America (USA, Canada)
NEC Corporation of America
www.necam.com
APAC (South Asia, South East Asia, Oceania)
sg.nec.com
NEC Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd.
SoftwareProvisioning
WorkStation
Scanning Device
Remote
GPU
Sharing
Image
Processing
with GPU
and FPGA
E-Mail: info@expether.org
URL: www.expether.org
Cat.No. E06-16080003E