XpressSX AGI-FH401G

Presentation of the Intel® Agilex™ board

XpressSX AGI-FH401G
use case for the XpressSX AGI-FH400G board
use case for the XpressSX AGI-FH400G board
XpressSX AGI-FH401G
use case for the XpressSX AGI-FH400G board
use case for the XpressSX AGI-FH400G board

Product overview

The XpressSX AGI-FH401G Agilex™ I-Series SoC PCIe board is a full-height, half-length PCIe Gen5 Network Processing board, featuring the Agilex™ I-Series SoC FPGA and 400 GB Ethernet.

The Intel® Agilex™ board is based on an Intel® Agilex™ I-series SoC FPGA. This device is optimized for bandwidth-intensive applications that require a high-performance processor interface, supported by the CXL™ standard interface, the PCIe Gen5 x16 interface, and transceiver tiles with data rates of up to 116 Gbps.

The FPGA board is delivered with a 2-slot PCIe active heatsink and is specifically optimized for embedded applications.

A single board supports 10G, 40G, 100G, 200G, and 400G Ethernet, ensuring future-proof flexibility across diverse deployment environments.

Target markets include Security SmartNICs, high-performance networking, and FPGA-based acceleration.

reflex ces and DYNANIC (formerly BrnoLogic) have partnered to deliver a complete SmartNIC solution based on this powerful board. The DYNANIC provides line-rate packet processing, deep packet inspection, and inline telemetry offload – addressing the increasing demands of AI-era networking and cybersecurity.
This joint solution enables advanced use cases such as encrypted traffic visibility, real-time threat detection, and accelerated virtualized network functions (VNFs) directly on the FPGA fabric.

Benefits & features

  • Intel® Agilex™ I-Series SoC FPGA
  • Quad Core ARM® Cortex® A53
  • 2700 KLE
  • PCIe Edge Gen5 x16, CXL™ EP compatible
  • 400GbE (8 x 58G)
  • 3x DDR4 banks, up to 72GB
  • 4x HSI connectors (2x PCIe Gen5 x16 EP/RP, 1x CXL™ EP compatible)

 

The main advantage of the Intel® Agilex™ board is the 400-Gigabit Ethernet capability, specially designed for SmartNIC applications.

 

The FPGA is an Intel® Agilex™ I-Series SoC device. Intel® Agilex™ I-Series SoC FPGA devices also integrate the quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 processor to provide high system integration.

The Intel® Agilex™ I-Series FPGA has options to integrate Compute Express Link™ (CXL™), an open standard interconnect protocol for high-speed CPU-to-device and CPU-to-memory. This standard is built on the PCIe physical and electrical interface.

 

The FPGA delivers up to 40% lower power for applications in data centers, networking, and edge computing.

FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays) are used to offer high-capacity logic and memory storage.

The system-on-chip (SoC) is an integrated circuit inside the FPGA, most often a CPU (central processing unit) processor and supporting peripherals, that provides more flexibility and integration, and allows the FPGA to better control the board.

 

Our Intel® Agilex™ board offers primary interfaces and components, such as 400 Gb Ethernet, PCIe Gen5 x16 (CXL™ compatible), HSI connectors (offering transceivers for PCI Express), power supplies, a USB 2.0 port (for JTAG, UART, BMC), high-speed transceivers, DDR4 (on-board and SO-DIMM) interfaces and more. These components are from Intel®, Micron Technology, Inc., STMicroelectronics, and Cypress Semiconductor.

 

The Agilex™ board has a full height, half-length, 2-slot PCI Express form factor, specially designed to fit into various servers and chassis available on the market, as well as custom rack systems for embedded applications.

The Peripheral Component Interconnect Express, commonly known as PCI Express, is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard. Our FPGA board offers up to three PCI Express x16 slots or two CXL™ standard interfaces. Added to an Intel® Agilex™ SoC FPGA I-series, this makes our board quick and efficient.

 

Reduce time to market of your next embedded project with our Agilex™ SoC board, using the Intel® Quartus Prime development tools. We draw on our firmware, hardware, and software skills, and full documentation package and reference designs to create our boards.

 

The Intel® Agilex™ board is RoHS and REACH standard compliant.

 

Our Intel® Agilex™ board is specially designed for customer needs and specifications.

Our sales team is available to advise you on the best solution to meet your requirements. Contact us at sales@reflexces.com.

Diagrams

Block diagram of the Intel® Agilex™ board:

 

Software

Open-source Development Framework for High-speed Packet Processing

Start your design from standard NIC

  • Provided as a free demo application
  • Network module based on F-Tile 400G Ethernet Hard IP
  • Ultra fast DMA with 400 Gbps throughput based on PCIe Gen5 x16 interface (R-Tile)
  • Easy to use memory interface for single read/write data from/to card
  • Preconfigured DDR4 controller for memory access from the user logic
  • Precise timestamps with 2.5 ns resolution for 400G Ethernet

Easy to use Development Framework

  • Set of open-source IP cores for data manipulation
  • Automatic scripts for complete design synthesis
  • Single make command to create complete FPGA bitstream
  • Bitstream identification through DeviceTree ROM
  • Easy to use software stack in a single RPM package
  • Linux kernel driver, DPDK support, user space library, tools for the configuration of components
  • Easy creation of custom application by user-friendly API for component access and DMA transfers
  • Fully parameterizable and modular hardware and software architecture

-> More details as well as sources of the open-source development framework can be found here: https://www.liberouter.org/ndk/
-> License for the use of Ultra-fast DMA IP Core can be obtained here: https://support.brnologic.com/

 

DYNANIC: complete FPGA-based SmartNIC solution on XpressSX AGI-FH400G

DYNANIC delivers a universal, high-speed packet processing pipeline tailored for the reflex ces XpressSX AGI-FH401G board. This wire-speed FPGA-based solution enables full utilization of the altera® Agilex™ I-Series SoC without requiring any prior FPGA development experience.

Agilex 400g PCIe board fpga packet processing pipeline

The FPGA pipeline is fully pre-integrated and controlled through a standardized and open-source software stack, based on the DPDK RTE Flow API. Applications can define flow rules and actions using just a few lines of code in C++ or Python, eliminating the need for low-level HDL development and drastically accelerating time-to-market.

 

Unique features of DYNANIC solution on XpressSX AGI-FH400G :

  • No need for FPGA development – prebuilt, universal packet processing pipeline
  • DPDK-compatible control plane via RTE Flow – standardized, open-source interface
  • Full 400 Gbps throughput between FPGA and host memory
  • Lossless packet processing at wire-speed, from 100G to 400G
  • Configurable packet parser for flexible support from L2 to L4 protocols
  • Advanced flow filtering with internal/external memory usage
  • Fast flow tracking and stateful operations, including atomic insert/remove
  • Dynamic adaptation to different link speeds on the same board
  • Optional inline telemetry offload, DPI (deep packet inspection), and traffic redirection
  • Ideal for security, visibility, and low-latency edge processing workloads

 

This solution is particularly suited for demanding SmartNIC, network observability, and cybersecurity use cases — including real-time threat detection, encrypted traffic classification, NFV/VNF acceleration, and AI/ML-powered packet inspection.

The DYNANIC SmartNIC stack is production-ready and immediately available for deployment on the XpressSX AGI-FH400G.

 

➡️ Available now — learn more or download the solution directly at www.dyna-nic.com/reflexces

 

Tech specs

FPGA Configuration

  • Intel® Agilex™ I-Series : AGIB027R29A1E1VC including SoC Quad Core ARM® Cortex® A53
  • R29A/D package compatibility
  • HPS interface : Ethernet RJ45, UART, USB Device, SDCARD/EMMC, 2x LED, SPI to Max 10
  • Flash configuration
  • USB 2.0 Hub for JTAG, UART, BMC, USB2

Memory

  • 1x on-board DDR4 (mutual SoC / FPGA), x64 bit bus, 8GBytes up to 3200 MT/s
  • 2x DDR4 SO-DIMM sockets (for FPGA), each capable up to 32GBytes SO-DIMM, with ECC, up to 3200 MT/s
  • eMMC or SD Card holder (if used) for SoC

Power

  • 200W max, delivered with 2-slot active cooling heatsink
  • Powered by the PCIe slot and an 8 pin PCIe Aux ATX external connector (additional power)

Board dimensions: Full height half length: 167.7mm x 111.15mm

Operating range: 0°C to 35°C
Storage range: 0°C to 70°C

Communication interfaces

  • PCIe Edge Gen5 x16
  • CXL™ EP standard compatible*:
    • Open standard interconnection for high-speed CPU-to-device and CPU-to-memory
    • Built on the PCIe physical and electrical interface
  • 8x QSFP-DD (8x 58G: 400G total)
  • 2x HSI connectors (ARF16-6-S-D): Total of 16 transceivers for PCIe Gen5 End Point / Root Port, CXL™ End Point standard compatible
  • 2x HSI connectors (ARF16-6-S-D): Total of 16 transceivers for PCIe Gen5 End Point / Root Port
  • 2x USB-C connectors for HSI Clocks & control signals

*Use of CXL™ features might require separate CXL™ IP license purchase. Please contact Intel® for details.

Other resources

  • Board Management Controller (Max® 10 device)
  • Programmable PLL

Standards and compliance

  • RoHS/REACH compliant
  • UL certified
  • ISO9001 certified

 

Additional PCIe Gen5 x16 daughter card

The XpressSX AGI-FH401G board is delivered with accessories : a PCI Edge Gen5 x16 daughter card, two HSI cables and a USB-C cable.

This PCIe Edge Gen5 x16 daughter card needs to be inserted in a PCIe Gen5 compatible server to deliver the full PCIe Gen5 x16 performances.

The daughter card can also be used in PCIe Gen4 slot in case the server is not supporting Gen5, and it also supports x8x8 bifurcation mode.

 

Deliverables

Deliverables

  • Full height half length 2-slot PCIe board with active heatsink and PCIe bracket
  • 2x DDR4 SO-DIMM 32GByte each, one 32GB microSD card
  • 2x HSI cables (ARC6-16-12.0-LU-LD-2-1) and 1x USB-C to USB-C cables (0.72ft), 3.1 Gen2 to connect the PCIe Gen5 x16 daughter card
  • PCIe Gen5 x16 (Gen4 x16 compatible) daughter card
  • 1-year technical support and 1-year warrantee
  • Online support at support.reflexces.com
  • NDK package (including DPDK NIC application) provided separately by DYNANIC
  • Board Support Package (download it from reflex ces online support)
    • Reference Manual
    • FPGA HDL Full feature Design (Quartus Prime Pro Edition 24.3)
    • HPS Software :
      Built with Yocto Project version 5.0 (scarthgap)
      U-Boot bootloader (v2024.04), ATF (v2.11.0), linux Kernel (v6.6.37-lts), and linux Yocto Poky Scarthgap (v5.0.5)
    • BMC Software
    • Mechanical files: 3D DWF/STEP models and 2D CAD drawing (upon request)

Ordering Information

  • XpressSXAGI-FH401GT // Intel® Agilex™ SoC I-Series based on Production Silicon (AGIB027R29A1E1VC)

Contact sales for availability and pricing

Export control ECCN

ECCN Number : 5A002.a

CECC (commodity Export Classification Certificate) : Download certificate

Applications

Network Monitoring and Telemetry

  • Ultra-fast packet capture with up to 512 receive queues and full DPDK integration
  • Encrypted traffic feature extraction for passive threat detection and behavioral analytics
  • Wire-speed packet classification engines:
    • TCAM with up to 512 generalized rules, each with flexible wildcarding
    • Deep-pipeline LPM supporting up to 100K IPv4/IPv6 prefixes
    • Exact Match engine with support for up to 1 million unique keys
  • Scalable flow state tracking using DDR, QDR, or HBM — supports tens of millions of active flows

Cybersecurity and Inline Protection

  • Hardware-accelerated packet filtering and pattern matching for ultra-low-latency IDS/IPS
  • Precise lawful interception with programmable filtering and deterministic capture
  • Inline Anti-DDoS defenses, combining hardware IP filtering with software-controlled flow rules
  • Payload-aware filtering and DPI-ready architecture

 

Download DYNANIC white papers for more use-cases:

Accelerating Anti-DDoS systems

Accelerating AI-based Network Monitoring

Leveraging DYNANIC for Hardware Acceleration of Suricata Intrusion Detection System

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