By Tariq Haddad, Systems Engineer
In today’s fast-paced technological landscape, harnessing the power of cutting-edge hardware and software solutions is crucial for organizations across various industries. NVIDIA® offers a range of high-performance computing solutions that can revolutionize your systems' capabilities.
The NVIDIA Qualification program “NVQUAL” is a MODS-based software program through which NVIDIA ensures the compatibility, reliability, and performance of solutions which integrate their hardware and software. By undergoing rigorous testing and verification procedures, NVIDIA-qualified products are validated to meet the highest standards and perform optimally in various computing environments.
Once a system has successfully passed NVIDIA qualification, the system can then be considered for NVIDIA Certification. “NVCerts” goes through a more extensive evaluation process to meet more stringent requirements.
The benefits of NVIDIA-Certified Systems are performance, manageability, security, and scalability. By utilizing a certified system, you can be confident in its ability to handle demanding applications like artificial intelligence, deep learning, analytics, and high-performance computing. The certification ensures that all components work seamlessly together, maximizing your system’s capabilities. The process required to pass both qualification and certification has been made simple using the guidelines provided by NVIDIA to their partners.
NVIDIA provides program guidelines, installation guide, and test scripts. Setting up your system properly and according to the requirements provided in the guidelines is essential to smoothly running the tests. With the help of your NVIDIA contact through the NV-Online portal and NV-Bugs, you can troubleshoot and resolve any issues you might run into during the testing. For example, in the process of qualifying the OSS 4U Pro expansion chassis with the higher-powered NVIDIA A100 80GB GPUs, we replaced the cooling fans with fans that have a higher CFM, as well as adding baffling to redirect more airflow into the GPUs.
After NVIDIA evaluates the test results and provides feedback, a passing system is listed on the NVIDIA website. That system can now undergo the NVIDIA Certified Systems Program testing.
Here at One Stop Systems, we aim to get all our NVIDIA-powered systems qualified and certified by NVIDIA. A product worth mentioning is our Rigel Edge Supercomputer, which brings the power of NVIDIA HGX A100 SXM GPUs to the rugged edge. To this day, Rigel is the only edge-certified system to have completed both NVQUAL and NVCERTS on a system that incorporates the NVIDIA HGX A100 4-GPU backplane.
Embracing NVIDIA qualified and certified systems opens a world of possibilities for optimizing your computing environment. By following the qualification process, you can ensure that your system meets NVDIA’s high standards of compatibility, reliability, and performance. Opting for a certified system guarantees a seamless integration of NVIDIA hardware and software, empowering you to tackle complex tasks and unleash the power of advanced technologies. Unlock the full potential of NVIDIA and take your computing experience to new heights. You can find systems that have passed NVQUAL and NVCerts on the NVIDIA Qualified catalog website here.
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The rugged edge computing landscape is becoming increasingly complex with new generations of technologies, such as the latest AI focused GPUs, releasing annually rather than every 2-3 years. Whether the end application is commercial or defense, rugged edge servers must not only deliver cutting-edge compute performance but also withstand extreme environmental conditions.
When the PCI-SIG formally added support for 675W add-in card devices in the PCI Express Card Electromechanical (CEM) specification in August 2023, NVIDIA’s most powerful CEM GPU, the NVIDIA H100 80GB had a maximum power consumption of 350W. While some devices were starting to push the limits of datacenter thermodynamics – high density systems of many 675W devices seemed like a distant reality. However, with power constraints uncapped and the need for higher performing GPUs skyrocketing, the industry quickly came out with devices taking full advantage of the new specification capability. NVIDIA quickly replaced the H100 80GB with the H100 NVL, increasing power density to 400W. While this small jump was manageable for existing installations, NVIDIA then dove all-in with the H200 NVL released in late 2024 at 600W. The rapid transition from 350W to 600W has put power and cooling technologies in the spotlight in a race to solve this next generation challenge.
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