NVIDIA Mellanox MBF1M332A-ASCAT BlueField-1 SmartNIC DPU, Dual-Port 25GbE SFP28, HHHL with Crypto: This is a BlueField-1 generation Data Processing Unit (DPU) — a SmartNIC PCIe adapter card combining ConnectX-5 Ethernet networking with an integrated Arm-based SoC and hardware crypto. The MBF1M332A-ASCAT variant is configured with dual 25GbE SFP28 ports, a PCIe Gen3/4 x16/x8 host interface, a Half-Height Half-Length (HHHL) form factor, and crypto enablement (the C in ASCAT). This is not a standard NIC — workloads must be partitioned between the host and the on-card Arm cores. This is a refurbished unit.
Engineering Context
BlueField-1 integrates a ConnectX-5 EN/VPI ASIC with a multi-core 64-bit Armv8 A72 SoC, on-card DDR4 memory, and PCIe switch functionality on a single PCB. The card can present itself to the host as a standard ConnectX-5 NIC for line-rate 25GbE-per-port, or the embedded Arm subsystem can run an isolated Linux distribution to host infrastructure services such as virtual switching (OVS), NVMe-oF target/initiator, software-defined storage, and IPsec/TLS termination — offloading these from the host CPU. The ASCAT SKU includes hardware crypto acceleration for IPsec, TLS, and AES-XTS data-at-rest encryption.
Deployment & Use Cases
Bare-metal-as-a-service infrastructure where the DPU isolates the cloud control plane from tenant workloads. NVMe-oF storage target appliances offloading the data path to the Arm cores. Software-defined networking with OVS-DPDK acceleration on the DPU. Distributed firewall and IPsec gateway termination at the host edge. Zero-trust micro-segmentation in private clouds. VMware ESXi with vSphere Distributed Services Engine (Project Monterey-class deployments).
Technical Specifications
OEM: NVIDIA Mellanox
Part Number: MBF1M332A-ASCAT
Product Family: BlueField-1 DPU (SmartNIC)
Network ASIC: ConnectX-5 EN/VPI (integrated)
Embedded SoC: 64-bit Armv8 Cortex-A72 multi-core
Network Ports: 2× SFP28 (25GbE, also supports 10GbE/1GbE)
Host Interface: PCIe Gen3/4 ×16 (or ×8 in selected slots)
Form Factor: Half-Height Half-Length (HHHL)
Crypto: Hardware IPsec, TLS, AES-XTS — enabled (ASCAT)
Bracket: Tall bracket; low-profile bracket may be required for 1U/2U servers
Software Modes: Standard NIC mode or Embedded CPU mode (DPU)
Condition: Refurbished — Tested by T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS
Compatibility & Hard Constraints
The MBF1M332A-ASCAT is a BlueField-1 card; it is not API- or feature-compatible with BlueField-2 or BlueField-3 (DOCA versions and firmware paths differ). The 2× SFP28 ports support 25/10/1GbE — they do not negotiate to 40GbE or 100GbE. PCIe Gen4 host slots are backward-compatible at Gen3 speeds; ×16 slot recommended for full bandwidth. Embedded CPU mode requires a supported BlueField OS (Ubuntu/CentOS variants from NVIDIA) — not all Linux distributions are validated. Crypto offload requires firmware and host driver versions that match the ASCAT capability flags. Not a stand-alone appliance — must be hosted in a server with a compatible PCIe slot.
Why Choose T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS
T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS bench-tests every BlueField DPU in a host system, verifies link on both SFP28 ports, confirms PCIe enumeration, and validates that the embedded Arm subsystem boots before shipment. Visit tes-itsolutions.com for expert consultation on DPU integration, BlueField OS imaging, global shipping with 1–3 day handling, and warranty coverage on every unit.