This is one of the more interesting announcements that we had not been expecting until pre-briefing materials came out. There is a new d-Matrix JetStream 400Gbps Ethernet card for scale-out AI inference. The goal is to provide a path to scaling out to multiple chassis using off-the-shelf networking infrastructure.
First off, this is the d-Matrix JetStream. It is a PCIe network adapter designed for the company’s AI inference servers.
Apparently, many sites out there decided to parrot the press release, but did not bother to look at specs. The card utilizes QSFP-DD, which is much easier to get non-NVIDIA switches for than OSFP at this point, and also if you go non-NVIDIA and the PAM4/NRZ makes things easier on the transceiver side as well. The card also has a 150W TDP, which means it requires an Aux connector for power, which is probably not ideal. Some NVIDIA cards, like its BlueField-3 DPUs also can require aux power inputs.
