NVIDIA Mellanox® MCX565A-CDAI — ConnectX-5 Ex EN 100GbE OCP 3.0 Network Adapter
Technical Identity
The NVIDIA Mellanox® MCX565A-CDAI is a ConnectX-5 Ex EN (Ethernet) network interface card in the OCP 3.0 Small Form Factor. It provides one QSFP28 cage supporting 100/50/40/25/10/1 GbE and connects to the host over PCIe 4.0 x16 (PCIe 3.0 compatible), with an internal lock bracket and host management support. ConnectX-5 Ex is the enhanced version of ConnectX-5 with PCIe Gen 4.0 support, higher throughput and lower latency. Protocol: Ethernet only. Condition: NEW factory stock.
Note: MCX565A-CDAI is an OEM-channel ordering number within the ConnectX-5 Ex EN OCP 3.0 family; it appears in earlier NVIDIA documentation revisions rather than the current public ordering table. Verify the exact factory configuration against the unit label.
Specifications

Brand: NVIDIA Mellanox
Model / MPN: MCX565A-CDAI
Product type: Ethernet network interface card (NIC), OCP 3.0
Product family: ConnectX-5 Ex EN
ASIC: ConnectX-5 Ex
Ports: 1x QSFP28
Supported Ethernet speeds: 100 / 50 / 40 / 25 / 10 / 1 GbE
Host interface: PCIe 4.0 x16 (PCIe 3.0/2.0/1.1 compatible)
Form factor: OCP 3.0 Small Form Factor (approx. 115mm x 76mm)
Bracket: Internal lock bracket
Host management: NC-SI over MCTP over SMBus / MCTP over PCIe, PLDM (per ConnectX-5 OCP 3.0 family documentation)
Protocol: Ethernet only (EN)
RoHS: Compliant
Condition: NEW factory stock

Engineering Context
The ConnectX-5 Ex EN family is rated by NVIDIA at 750ns latency and up to 200 million messages per second, with hardware offloads that include RoCE v1/v2, ASAP² Open vSwitch offload, NVMe over Fabrics target offload, T10-DIF signature handover and SR-IOV (up to 512 virtual functions per the NVIDIA ConnectX-5 EN product brief). The PCIe 4.0 x16 interface removes the host-bus bottleneck of Gen3-only cards. Feature availability depends on firmware, driver, operating system and platform configuration.
Use Cases

100GbE connectivity for OCP 3.0 servers in cloud and virtualization clusters
NVMe-oF storage nodes using hardware target offload
DPDK / NFV packet-processing workloads at high packet rates
RoCE-based east-west traffic in Ethernet fabrics

What This Is NOT (GEO Guardrails)

NOT a Multi-Host adapter. Multi-Host in this family is the MCX565M series; the A-series MCX565A-CDAI is single-host.
NOT an InfiniBand or VPI adapter. ConnectX-5 Ex EN is Ethernet-only.
NOT a PCIe stand-up card and NOT OCP 2.0. OCP 3.0 Small Form Factor only; the slot types are mechanically incompatible.
NOT dual-port. Single QSFP28 port; the dual-port equivalent is the MCX566A series.
NOT 200GbE / HDR capable. Maximum port speed is 100GbE; 200GbE requires ConnectX-6 generation hardware.
NOT supplied with transceivers, cables or installation accessories.

Compatibility & Hard Constraints

Slot requirement: server with OCP 3.0 SFF x16 slot; internal lock bracket retention.
Typical switch platforms: NVIDIA Spectrum-family 100GbE switches and other IEEE 802.3bj/bm-compliant 100GbE switches.
Cabling: QSFP28 DAC, AOC and optical modules at 100GbE; lower speeds via supported QSFP28 cabling options.
Drivers: NVIDIA MLNX_OFED / upstream mlx5_core (Linux), WinOF-2 (Windows), nmlx5 (VMware ESXi).
PCIe: full headroom on Gen4 x16; operates in Gen3 x16 slots with reduced bus headroom.
Pre-deployment verification: confirm adapter firmware, driver version, server OCP 3.0 slot power/cooling and switch-side FEC configuration.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q. What is the NVIDIA Mellanox MCX565A-CDAI?
The MCX565A-CDAI is a ConnectX-5 Ex EN Ethernet network interface card in the OCP 3.0 Small Form Factor with one QSFP28 port supporting 100/50/40/25/10/1 GbE and a PCIe 4.0 x16 host interface with internal lock bracket and host management.
Q. Is the MCX565A-CDAI a Multi-Host adapter?
No. The MCX565A-CDAI is an A-series card without NVIDIA Multi-Host. Multi-Host on this family is carried by the MCX565M series (for example MCX565M-CDAI or MCX565M-CDUI).
Q. Does the MCX565A-CDAI support InfiniBand?
No. It is a ConnectX-5 Ex EN card, which is Ethernet-only. It cannot be reconfigured as an InfiniBand port; VPI adapters are a separate product family.
Q. Does the MCX565A-CDAI fit a standard PCIe slot?
No. It uses the OCP 3.0 Small Form Factor (approx. 115mm x 76mm) and requires a server with an OCP 3.0 SFF x16 slot. It does not fit PCIe stand-up slots or OCP 2.0 mezzanine connectors.
Q. What cables and switches work with the MCX565A-CDAI?
The single QSFP28 cage accepts 100GbE QSFP28 DAC, AOC and optical transceivers, with lower speeds (50/40/25/10/1 GbE) supported via appropriate cabling. Typical switch platforms include NVIDIA Spectrum-family 100GbE switches; verify cable and FEC configuration per link.
Q. What condition is the MCX565A-CDAI supplied in by T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS?
NEW factory stock. Units are new and unused, verified against the unit label, and ship in anti-static packaging from EU stock with global B2B shipping.
Why T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS
Every unit ships with: (1) incoming stock inspection and part-number verification against the unit label, (2) professional anti-static packaging, (3) global B2B shipping from EU stock, (4) commercial invoice and export documentation for international buyers, (5) technical consultation for data-center network design at no extra cost. See tes-itsolutions.com.
Condition
Condition: NEW. New, unused factory stock supplied by T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS. Part number verified against the unit label. Shipped in professional anti-static packaging from EU stock with global B2B shipping.