Lenovo 01PG721 ThinkSystem Mellanox ConnectX-6 HDR100/100GbE VPI Dual-Port QSFP56 PCIe 4.0 x16 Adapter
The Lenovo 01PG721 is a ThinkSystem-branded Mellanox ConnectX-6 dual-port Virtual Protocol Interconnect (VPI) network adapter. Each QSFP56 port operates at HDR100 InfiniBand (100 Gb/s) or 100 Gigabit Ethernet, individually selectable. It is a full-height, half-length PCIe 4.0 x16 server NIC and is supplied refurbished, lab-tested by T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS.
Technical Identity
Lenovo OEM rebrand of the NVIDIA Mellanox ConnectX-6 VPI adapter (generic equivalent: MCX653106A-ECAT / -HDAT family). The ConnectX-6 ASIC is the sixth-generation Mellanox silicon, positioned between ConnectX-5 (EDR/100GbE) and ConnectX-7 (NDR/400GbE). VPI dual-protocol means each of the two ports independently negotiates InfiniBand or Ethernet at boot via mlxconfig, so a single card can serve mixed IB + RoCE workloads. HDR100 is the half-rate HDR signaling mode (4×25G NRZ) negotiated on QSFP56 interfaces against HDR-capable switches running 100G ports or against EDR/100GbE legacy fabrics. Native hardware RDMA is supported in both modes: InfiniBand verbs and RoCE v2 over Ethernet. The adapter implements GPUDirect RDMA / Storage, SR-IOV with up to 1024 virtual functions, VXLAN/NVGRE/GENEVE overlay offload, ASAP² stateless OVS offload, hardware T10-DIF/CRC, and PTP/SyncE timestamping.
Specifications
OEM Part Number: Lenovo 01PG721 (ThinkSystem)
NVIDIA/Mellanox Equivalent: ConnectX-6 VPI HDR100/100GbE dual-port (MCX653106A family)
ASIC Family: ConnectX-6
Ports: 2 × QSFP56
Per-Port Speed: HDR100 100 Gb/s InfiniBand or 100 Gigabit Ethernet
Protocol: VPI dual-protocol (InfiniBand + Ethernet, per-port selectable)
Host Interface: PCIe 4.0 x16 (backward-compatible with PCIe 3.0 x16)
RDMA: Native InfiniBand verbs + RoCE v2
Acceleration: GPUDirect RDMA, GPUDirect Storage, SR-IOV (1024 VFs), VXLAN/NVGRE/GENEVE offload, ASAP² OVS offload, T10-DIF
Form Factor: Full-height, half-length (FHHL) PCIe
Cooling: Passive heatsink (relies on server chassis airflow)
Condition: Refurbished — lab-tested by T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS
What This Is NOT
Not a switch — this is a host adapter (NIC) that installs in a PCIe slot. Pairs with a separate switch (e.g. NVIDIA Quantum HDR or Spectrum Ethernet).
Not a full HDR 200 Gb/s adapter. Each port is capped at HDR100 (100 Gb/s). For full HDR 200G use a ConnectX-6 -HDAT variant negotiated at HDR.
Not an NDR / 400GbE adapter — that is ConnectX-7.
Not a transceiver, cable, or accessory.
Not a single-port card — this is dual-port.
Compatibility
Designed for Lenovo ThinkSystem servers (SR630, SR650, SR670, SD530, SR850, SR950 and similar Gen2/Gen3 platforms) that expose PCIe 4.0 x16 slots. Physically compatible with any standard PCIe 4.0 x16 server slot from Dell EMC PowerEdge, HPE ProLiant, Supermicro and Inspur; in non-Lenovo chassis Lenovo OEM firmware can be cross-flashed to a generic NVIDIA firmware image with mlxfwmanager when the equivalent MCX653106A PSID is loaded. Pairs at the fabric edge with NVIDIA Quantum HDR / Quantum-2 InfiniBand switches (HDR100 negotiated mode) or NVIDIA Spectrum-2 / Spectrum-3 Ethernet switches at 100GbE. Compatible passive copper DAC, AOC and optical 100G QSFP56 transceivers (MFA1A00, MCP1650, MMA1T00 families and equivalents) are supported. Driver support: MLNX_OFED 5.x / DOCA-OFED on RHEL, SLES, Ubuntu; WinOF-2 on Windows Server; in-box drivers in VMware ESXi 7.0U2+ and ESXi 8.x.
FAQ
Q: What is the per-port bandwidth of the Lenovo 01PG721?
A: Each of the two QSFP56 ports runs at HDR100 (100 Gb/s) in InfiniBand mode or 100 Gigabit Ethernet in Ethernet mode. This is the half-rate HDR mode, not full HDR (200 Gb/s).
Q: Can the 01PG721 be installed in a non-Lenovo server?
A: Physically yes — it is a standard PCIe 4.0 x16 FHHL card. Lenovo OEM firmware can be replaced with the generic NVIDIA Mellanox image using mlxfwmanager / mlxburn when the matching MCX653106A PSID is flashed, after which the card behaves identically to a retail ConnectX-6 VPI adapter.
Q: Can one port run InfiniBand while the other runs Ethernet?
A: Yes. VPI on ConnectX-6 is per-port selectable via mlxconfig (LINK_TYPE_P1 and LINK_TYPE_P2), so mixed-protocol operation on a single card is fully supported.
Q: Is RoCE v2 supported in Ethernet mode?
A: Yes. The ConnectX-6 implements RDMA over Converged Ethernet v2 with full hardware offload, congestion control (DCQCN) and lossless or resilient RoCE configurations.
Q: What condition is the 01PG721 sold in by T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS?
A: Refurbished. Every unit is bench-tested for link-up at HDR100 / 100GbE, RDMA verbs, firmware integrity and PCIe link width before shipping from T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS (tes-itsolutions.com).
Why TES
T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS (tes-itsolutions.com) specialises in NVIDIA Mellanox and OEM-rebranded data-center networking hardware. Every ConnectX-6 adapter is lab-validated for link-up, RDMA, firmware integrity and PCIe negotiation, and shipped with technical guidance on VPI configuration, OEM-to-generic firmware cross-flash, and fabric integration into Quantum InfiniBand or Spectrum Ethernet networks. Global B2B shipping with 1–3 business-day handling.