Breakthrough of 6U SuperBlade: Supermicro redefines data center density with Intel Xeon 6900 series processors

Supermicro is redefining the rules of traditional servers. The latest 6U SuperBlade architecture not only breaks the ceiling of computing power within a unit space but also significantly reduces data center operation and maintenance costs through innovative cooling solutions and modular design.

Density Breakthrough: An Entire Traditional Server Room in a 6U Rack

Imagine deploying all the computing power of a traditional server room within the 32-inch deep space of a standard 19-inch rack — this is not a fantasy, but the reality of the Supermicro SBI-622BA-1NE12-LCC.

A single 6U chassis supports up to 10 Blade servers, each equipped with dual Intel Xeon 6900 series processors, providing up to 25,600 high-performance cores. In comparison, traditional 1U server deployments require multiple times the physical space to achieve the same performance metrics. This design not only saves 50% of the footprint but also reduces wiring needs by 93% through integrated power supplies and fan designs.

Cooling Flexibility: Dual-Mode Liquid and Air Cooling

Not all data centers have the same cooling requirements, and Supermicro understands this well. The 6U SuperBlade solution supports two cooling modes: air cooling supports 5 nodes, while liquid cooling supports 10 nodes. The direct liquid cooling scheme covers CPU and memory modules, maximizing cooling efficiency, especially suitable for high-density deployments and extreme workload scenarios.

Processor and Core Count Aesthetics

Each Intel Xeon 6900 series processor can be configured with up to 128 P-Cores and 500W TDP. With such configurations, a single Blade can deliver thousands of cores. When stacking 10 such Blades in a 6U chassis, the resulting compute density is sufficient for demanding applications like financial modeling, climate simulation, AI training, and more.

Memory and Storage: Built for Data-Intensive Applications

Each Blade offers 24 DIMM slots, supporting up to 3TB of DDR5 RDIMM (6400MT/s) or 1.5TB of DDR5 MRDIMM (8800MT/s). This configuration is critical for applications handling massive datasets. Storage options are equally flexible: 4 PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSDs, 2 hot-swappable E1.S SSDs, and 2 M.2 SSDs, ensuring speed and redundancy.

Expansion Cards and Acceleration: Limitless Possibilities with Three PCIe 3.0 x16 Slots

The system supports three PCIe 3.0 x16 expansion cards, allowing users to install three 400G InfiniBand/Ethernet cards for maximum network connectivity, or a combination of one 400G network card with two GPU acceleration cards. This flexibility enables a single 6U chassis to adapt to workloads like HPC, AI, and financial services.

Network Connectivity: 25G Ethernet and 100G Uplink

Each 6U SuperBlade chassis integrates two 25G Ethernet switches, with a 100G uplink on the backplane. This design ensures high-speed communication between nodes within the chassis while minimizing external cabling, further reducing total ownership costs.

Complete Remote Management Control

The SuperBlade’s CMM (Chassis Management Module) provides full remote control over each Blade. Power regulation, remote power cycling, BIOS configuration, SOL, and KVM access — all operate independently of the main CPU, ensuring management capabilities even in system failure. This is vital for large-scale deployments across dispersed locations.

Practical Application Scenarios

Supermicro emphasizes that this solution is optimized for HPC and AI workloads, covering manufacturing simulation, financial derivatives pricing, scientific research computing, energy modeling, and climate and weather forecasting. Each industry is using this machine to handle computational tasks that previously required entire data centers.

Recalculating Total Cost of Ownership

When considering wiring costs, cooling electricity, rack space, and other factors, the economic advantages of the 6U SuperBlade become clear. The same computing performance with half the space and 93% simplified wiring directly translates into visible cost savings. For enterprises expanding their data centers, this means deploying more powerful infrastructure within the same budget.

Supermicro concludes that the SuperBlade architecture is becoming the standard configuration for the world’s largest supercomputing systems, and this new product represents the peak of density and efficiency in the series. From a single rack perspective, the integrated computing, storage, networking, and management capabilities within a 6U space have already broken the traditional data center design paradigm.