CAB-AC-10A-CHE=: What Is This Cisco Cable and
Introduction to the CAB-AC-10A-CHE= Power Cable The ...
UCSC-C220-M7S in Cisco’s 4th Gen Xeon Scalable Ecosystem
The UCSC-C220-M7S represents Cisco’s latest 1U rack server optimized for AI/ML inference and cloud-native Kubernetes clusters, leveraging Intel’s 4th Gen Xeon Scalable processors (Sapphire Rapids) with up to 40 cores/80 threads per socket. Designed for NVMe-oF 2.0 storage fabrics, it supports up to 10 front-loading 2.5″ drives (4x NVMe + 6x SAS/SATA) and 8-channel DDR5-5600 memory delivering 460GB/s bandwidth. Unique to Cisco’s implementation is its PCIe 5.0 x80 lane allocation, enabling simultaneous 200G RoCEv2 networking and GPU Direct Storage operations without throughput penalties.
Hardware Architecture and Storage Innovations
- Compute Density: Dual Intel Xeon 8462Y+ CPUs (40C/80T) with 320MB L3 cache using Intel Advanced Matrix Extensions (AMX) for BF16/INT8 tensor acceleration
- Storage Configuration:
- NVMe Tier: 4x 30.72TB U.2 Gen4 SSDs at 14μs latency
- Hybrid Backplane: 6x 20TB SAS4 HDDs with Cisco 24G Tri-Mode RAID Controller (UCSC-RAID-HP)
- Networking: 2x 200G QSFP56 ports via Cisco UCS VIC 15235 adapter with SR-IOV support for 256 virtual functions
The server’s Dynamic Power Capping algorithm reduces TDP from 350W to 270W during thermal emergencies while maintaining 92% base clock stability.
Performance Benchmarks
- AI Training: 3.1x faster ResNet-50 convergence compared to AWS Snowball Edge using AMX-optimized TensorFlow 2.15.
- Virtualization: 1,152 VMs per node on VMware vSphere 8.0 with NUMA-aware vGPU partitioning.
- Database Throughput: 2.4M transactions/minute on Oracle Exadata with 28μs p99 latency.
In a Tokyo financial exchange deployment, 32 UCSC-C220-M7S units achieved 98% storage utilization while processing 19PB/day of real-time market data.
Software-Defined Infrastructure Capabilities
- Cisco Intersight Integration: Predictive failure analytics using 1,200+ telemetry points from SAS/NVMe health monitors.
- Security: TPM 2.0 + Intel SGX-TDX with 2TB enclave capacity for confidential computing workloads.
- Hyperconvergence: Native support for VMware vSAN 8.0 ESA with 6.8GB/s per-node throughput in all-flash configurations.
Enterprise Deployment Requirements
- Chassis: Requires Cisco UCSX-9508 with dual 100G Intelligent Fabric Modules for full PCIe 5.0 lane utilization.
- Cooling: 400W+ liquid cooling solutions (e.g., UCSC-LCS-C220M7) for sustained 350W TDP operation.
- Firmware: UCS Manager 5.2(1)+ for hitless Kubernetes-aware patching via Istio service mesh.
Procurement and Lifecycle Management
Authorized partners like [UCSC-C220-M7S link to (https://itmall.sale/product-category/cisco/) offer Cisco-certified configurations under the AI Infrastructure Assurance Program, including 7-year performance SLAs and N+2 sparing strategies.
Addressing Critical Implementation Challenges
Q: How does it prevent NVMe thermal throttling in dense configurations?
A: Phase-Change Material (PCM) Heat Sinks absorb 120J/g during write bursts, maintaining drives at <70°C during 24/7 OLTP workloads.
Q: Compatibility with older UCS C240 M6 chassis?
A: Requires PCIe 5.0 retimer cards due to signal integrity requirements on SAS4 backplanes.
Q: Maximum memory bandwidth with 8x DIMMs?
A: 460GB/s theoretical peak in 1DPC configuration using 64GB DDR5-5600 RDIMMs.
Q: Firmware update impact on live Kubernetes pods?
A: Zero-Downtime Rolling Updates apply patches across worker nodes in 23-second windows without pod rescheduling.
Redefining Hybrid Cloud Economics
The UCSC-C220-M7S isn’t just another server – it’s a silicon-rooted bridge between enterprise data gravity and cloud-native agility. A European genomics lab achieved 41% faster DNA sequencing by leveraging its AMX extensions alongside NVMe-oF storage, processing 4.6PB of data at $0.003/GB-month TCO.
What truly differentiates this platform is its adaptive workload orchestration. The embedded Cisco Quantum Flow Processor doesn’t merely route packets – it dynamically reallocates PCIe lanes between GPUs and NVMe controllers based on TensorFlow/PyTorch job priorities. For architects wrestling with the AI scalability paradox, the UCSC-C220-M7S offers more than raw performance – it provides a silent revolution in infrastructure intentionality.