Aries PCIe®/CXL® Smart Cable Modules™

Multi-rack GPU clustering for AI with an
industry-first 7 meter reach over copper cables

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Unleash GPU-to-GPU Clustering Across Racks

  • Extends PCIe® 5.0, PCIe 4.0, and CXL® signal reach across dense AI racks using Active Electrical Cables
  • Built on the proven track record of our widely deployed and field-tested Aries PCIe/CXL Smart DSP Retimers
  • Supports multiple form factors and configurations to accommodate diverse AI system topologies
  • COSMOS suite for performance optimization and seamless fleet management across dense AI platforms

Aries SCM Highlights

Enabling reliable PCIe/CXL for rack-to-rack connectivity

Robust Signal
Integrity

Over copper cables with flexible link bifurcation

Extended Cable
Reach By

Compared to passive DAC solutions

Enhanced Diagnostics
& Telemetry

Advanced capabilities through in-band and out-of-band management

Why Use Aries Smart Cable Modules?

Aries SCMs enable robust, easy-to-design PCIe and CXL cabling while also offering COSMOS suite of built-in advanced fleet management, security, and deep diagnostic capabilities critical to ensuring high reliability and up-time.

Robustness

  • Supported Data Rates

    32 GT/s, 16 GT/s, 8 GT/s, 5 GT/s, and 2.5 GT/s Data Rates with Automatic Link Equalization

  • Power Efficient

    Low power CMOS process and L1.0 Low-Power Mode minimizes rack power/thermal density

  • Low Latency

    Less than 10ns

  • Security

    Advanced security features help prevent malicious attacks of unauthorized firmware loading, module diagnostics access, and configurations

Ease-of-use

  • Thin Cable Gauge

    Offering thin cables in various lengths for flexible bend radius

  • Extended Reach

    Up to 7m for long reach inter-rack connectivity

  • Flexible Supply Chain

    Aries SCMs are compatible with multiple cable vendors for ease of second sourcing of active cable assemblies

  • Interop Testing

    Rigorous system testing with 50+ Endpoints and all major Root Complex

Fleet Management

  • Quick Debug

    Built-in protocol analyzer with Link state history and timestamps, full non-destructive eye scan for RX Lane margining, self-test features to minimize link downtime and accelerate fault isolation

  • Deep Diagnostics

    Firmware-driven link health monitoring to alert BMC of any possible link performance issues

Use Cases

Memory Disaggregation

Expand, pool and share memory between multiple servers to increase memory bandwidth and capacity while providing the option to reclaim stranded or under-utilized…

Resources

Ordering Information

Part NumberDocumentsPCIe Gen PCIe LanesOrderingProduction Status
PM20-5XXPortfolio BriefPCIe 5.0VariousContact UsSampling

The Need for Modular AI Server Solutions

The incredible pace of hardware and software innovations across CPUs, accelerators (such as GPUs), and AI training and inference models is yielding ever-expanding benefits across virtually all sectors of society. However, the disjointed pace of these separate evolutionary paths introduces three main challenges:Mixed-generation components can cause bandwidth mismatches and inefficiencies.Reliability…

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Reflecting on 2024: Milestones and Momentum at Astera Labs

Astera Labs has just wrapped a milestone year! From a successful IPO on Nasdaq with the stock ticker ALAB to launching innovative new products to expanding our global footprint, 2024 has been a transformative year, strengthening our mission to eliminate bottlenecks in AI and cloud infrastructure with purpose-built connectivity solutions.Leading Semiconductor IPOs One of the biggest milestones…

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Optimizing Deep Learning Recommendation Models with AMD EPYC™ 9005 & Leo CXL Smart Memory Controllers

By Michael Ocampo, Ecosystem Alliance Manager, Astera Labs, and Hasan Maruf, Server Systems Architect, AMD IntroductionRecommendation systems are widely used in a variety of today’s popular applications, such as those commonly used for video streaming, social media, advertisement delivery, and other online services to enhance the user experience, drive engagement, and increase sales….

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Astera Labs Announces Conference Call to Review Fourth Quarter 2024 Financial Results

SANTA CLARA, CA, U.S. – Jan. 9, 2025 – Astera Labs, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALAB), a global leader in semiconductor-based connectivity solutions for AI and cloud infrastructure, today announced that it will release its financial results for the fourth quarter 2024 after the close of market on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. Astera Labs will host a corresponding conference call at 1:30 p.m. Pacific…

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Astera Labs Announces Financial Results for the Third Quarter of Fiscal Year 2024

Record quarterly revenue of $113.1 million, up 47% QoQ and up 206% YoY Expanding market opportunities with new Scorpio Fabric Switches, driving higher dollar content in AI platformsSANTA CLARA, CA, U.S. – November 4, 2024 – Astera Labs, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALAB), a global leader in semiconductor-based connectivity solutions for cloud and AI infrastructure, today announced preliminary…

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Astera Labs Introduces New Portfolio of Fabric Switches Purpose-Built for AI Infrastructure at Cloud-Scale

Shipping in pre-production quantities, Scorpio Smart Fabric Switches deliver maximum system utilization and uptime for scale-out PCIe 6 connectivity and scale-up GPU clustering in AI serversSANTA CLARA, CA, U.S. – October 8, 2024 – Astera Labs, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALAB), a global leader in semiconductor-based connectivity solutions for AI and cloud infrastructure, today announced a new…

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Astera Labs Announces Conference Call to Review Third Quarter 2024 Financial Results

SANTA CLARA, CA, U.S. – Oct. 2, 2024 – Astera Labs, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALAB), a global leader in semiconductor-based connectivity solutions for AI and cloud infrastructure, today announced that it will release its financial results for the third quarter 2024 after the close of market on Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. Astera Labs will host a corresponding conference call at 1:30 p.m. Pacific…

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Interop Testing with Linux Operating Systems and Leo

Learn how Astera Labs is enabling the CXL ecosystem with software support to support disaggregated memory architectures. Astera Labs is working closely with operating system vendors to ensure robust compatibility with Linux environments.In its Cloud-Scale Interop Lab, Astera Labs has successfully completed interoperability with enterprise-grade Linux operating systems from Red Hat and S…

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PCIe Cabling Demo at OCP 2024

At OCP Global Summit 2024, Astera Labs demonstrated its full portfolio of PCIe cabling solutions. The live demos included Aries PCIe/CXL Smart Cable Modules with Active Electrical Cables and Active Optical Cables to deliver extended reach for rack-to-rack and row-to-row configurations.

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CXL Demo for DLRM at OCP Summit 2024

At OCP Global Summit, Astera Labs demonstrated the performance benefits of CXL memory for Deep Learning Recommendation Models (DLRM). The demo featured a 5th Gen AMD EPYC processor, DDR5 memory from Samsung, and four Leo CXL Smart Memory Controllers. The demo showed that by doubling memory capacity and bandwidth in the system, there is about a 70% increase in performance for DLRM.

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