IBM 00W0043 Mellanox ConnectX-3 VPI 2-Port QSFP FDR / 40 GbE PCIe x8 Adapter: This is a refurbished dual-port ConnectX-3 Virtual Protocol Interconnect (VPI) host channel adapter, identified by IBM FRU 00W0043. The card is a Mellanox-built HBA carrying IBM branding. Each QSFP port can run InfiniBand FDR (56 Gb/s) or 40 Gigabit Ethernet, selected per port via firmware. This is a server-side PCIe HBA, NOT a switch, transceiver, or storage controller. Sold in refurbished condition, professionally tested working.
Engineering Context: ConnectX-3 implements the Mellanox 4-lane SerDes engine, providing 56 Gb/s FDR per port (4 x 14 Gb/s lanes) or 40 GbE (4 x 10 Gb/s lanes). The adapter supports RDMA over both InfiniBand (native verbs) and Ethernet (RoCE), kernel-bypass, hardware-offloaded transport, and SR-IOV for virtualization. Host bus is PCI Express Gen3 x8.
Deployment & Use Cases: IBM System x and Power servers requiring a dual-port FDR or 40 GbE HBA; HPC compute nodes running MPI workloads (Open MPI, MVAPICH2, Intel MPI); RDMA-accelerated storage stacks including Lustre, NFS-RDMA, and SMB Direct; virtualized environments leveraging SR-IOV; mixed protocol fabrics where each port can be assigned independently to InfiniBand or Ethernet.
Technical Specifications:

Product family: Mellanox ConnectX-3 VPI
IBM FRU / MPN: 00W0043
Number of ports: 2
Connector type: QSFP
InfiniBand rate per port: FDR (56 Gb/s)
Ethernet rate per port: 40 GbE
Host bus: PCI Express Gen3 x8
Protocol modes: VPI (per-port InfiniBand or Ethernet)
Offloads: RDMA, RoCE, SR-IOV
Mode selection: Firmware-configurable per port
OEM brand: IBM (Mellanox-built)
Condition: Refurbished, professionally tested

Compatibility & Constraints: Compatible with IBM System x and Power servers exposing PCIe 3.0 x8 or wider slots, MLNX_OFED / inbox OFED Linux drivers, native Windows ConnectX-3 drivers, FDR-rated QSFP+ DAC and AOC cables for InfiniBand mode, and 40 GbE QSFP+ DAC / AOC cables for Ethernet mode. Not an EDR (100 Gb/s), HDR (200 Gb/s), or 100 GbE adapter; does not provide 25 GbE or 50 GbE rates. VPI mode (InfiniBand vs Ethernet) is firmware-controlled per port; verify the desired mode and confirm firmware compatibility on your host before deployment.
Why TES IT-Solutions: TES specializes in refurbished enterprise networking from NVIDIA Mellanox and OEM-branded variants from IBM, HP, Dell, and Lenovo. Each adapter is professionally tested by experienced technicians with documented full working order. Standard handling time is 1-3 business days. Visit TES IT-Solutions.