The tech world this week gets its first look under the hood of the NVIDIA BlueField data processing unit. The chip invented the category of the DPU last year, and it's already being embraced by cloud services, supercomputers and many OEMs and software partners.
Idan Burstein, a principal architect leading our Israel-based BlueField design team, will describe the DPU's architecture at Hot Chips, an annual conference that draws many of the world's top microprocessor designers.
The talk will unveil a silicon engine for accelerating modern data centers. It's an array of hardware accelerators and general-purpose Arm cores that speed networking, security and storage jobs.
Those jobs include virtualizing data center hardware while securing and smoothing the flow of network traffic. It's work that involves accelerating in hardware a growing alphabet soup of tasks fundamental to running a data center, such as:
IPsec, TLS, AES-GCM, RegEx and Public Key Acceleration for security
NVMe-oF, RAID and GPUDirect Storage for storage
RDMA, RoCE, SR-IOV, VXLAN, VirtIO and GPUDirect RDMA for networking, and
Offloads for video streaming and time-sensitive communications
These workloads are growing faster than Moore's law and already consume a third of server CPU cycles. DPUs pack purpose-built hardware to run these jobs more efficiently, making more CPU cores available for data center applications.
DPUs deliver virtualization and advanced security without compromising bare-metal performance. Their uses span the gamut from cloud computing and media streaming to storage, edge processing and high performance computing.
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang describes DPUs as one of the three major pillars of computing going forward The CPU is for general-purpose computing, the GPU is for accelerated computing and the DPU, which moves data around the data center, does data processing.
A Full Plug-and-Play Stack The good news for users is they don't have to master the silicon details that may fascinate processor architects at Hot Chips. They can simply plug their existing software into familiar high-level software interfaces to harness the DPU's power.
Those APIs are bundled into the DPU's software stack called NVIDIA DOCA. It includes drivers, libraries, tools, documentation, example applications and a runtime environment for provisioning, deploying and orchestrating services on thousands of DPUs across the data center.
We've already received requests for early access to DOCA from hundreds of organizations, including several of the world's industry leaders.
DOCA provides a software platform for rapid development of networking, storage and security applications on the DPU. DPUs Deliver for Data Centers, Clouds The architecture described at Hot Chips is moving into several of the world's largest clouds as well as a TOP500 supercomputer and integrated with next-generation firewalls. It will soon be available in systems from several top OEMs supported with software from more than a dozen other partners.
Today, multiple cloud service providers around the world are using or preparing to deploy BlueField DPUs to provision compute instances securely.
BlueField Powers Supercomputers, Firewalls The University of Cambridge tapped into the DPU's efficiencies to debut in June the fastest academic system in the U.K., a supercomputer that hit No. 3 on the Green500 list of the world's most energy-efficient systems.
It's the world's first cloud-native supercomputer, letting researchers share virtual resources with privacy and security while not compromising performance.
With the VM-Series Next-Generation Firewall from Palo Alto Networks, every data center can now access the DPU's security capabilities. The VM-Series NGFW can be accelerated with BlueField-2 to inspect network flows that were previously impossible or impractical to track.
The DPU will soon be available in systems from ASUS, Atos, Dell Technologies, Fujitsu, GIGABYTE, H3C, Inspur, Quanta/QCT and Supermicro, several of which announced plans at Computex in May.
More than a dozen software partners will support the NVIDIA BlueField DPUs, including:
VMware, with Project Monterey, which introduces DPUs to the more than 300,000 organizations that rely on VMware for its speed, resilience and security.
Red Hat, with an upcoming developer's kit for Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat OpenShift, used by 95 percent of the Fortune 500.
Canonical, in Ubuntu Linux, the most popular operating system among public clouds.
Check Point Software Technologies, in products used by more than 100,000 organizations worldwide to prevent cyberattacks.
Other partners include Cloudflare, DDN, Excelero, F5, Fortinet, Guardicore, Juniper Networks, NetApp, Vast Data and WekaIO.
The support is broad because the opportunity is big.
Every single networking chip in the world will be a smart networking chip And that's what the DPU is. It's a data center on a chip, said Collette Kress, NVIDIA's CFO, in a May earnings call, predicting every server will someday sport a DPU.
DPU-Powered Networks on the Horizon Market watchers at Dell'Oro Group forecast the number of smart networking ports shipped will nearly double from 4.4 million in 2020 to 7.4 million by 2025.
Gearing up for that growth, NVIDIA announced at GTC its roadmap for the next two generations of DPUs.
The BlueField-3, sampling next year, will drive networks up to 400 Gbit/second and pack the muscle of 300 x86 cores. The BlueField-4 will deliver an order of magnitude more performance with the addition of NVIDIA AI computing technologies.
What's clear from the market momentum and this week's Hot Chips talk is just as it has in AI, NVIDIA is now setting the pace in accelerated networking.
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
28/11/2025
Nadia Fall attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Brides at the Egyptian Theatre on January 24, 2025, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Donyale West/...
28/11/2025
It's easy to ignore those little red update available badges. But when it ...
28/11/2025
WASHINGTON Federal Communications Commission has released a tentative agenda for the December Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, December 18, 2025 ...
28/11/2025
The Professional Fighters League is looking to super-serve fans of mixed martial...
28/11/2025
Fubo has released in beta on select Roku devices a new feature that lets users display up to four simultaneous streams at once....
28/11/2025
The WNBA playoffs and Week 4 of the NFL regular season highlight the list of live sports events airing on television this weekend....
28/11/2025
The 32nd class of honorees to the B+C Hall of Fame took to the stage at New York's Ziegfeld Ballroom on September 26 for a gala induction event. Click below...
28/11/2025
We hold in our hands the very last Next Text for Next TV, the weekly back-and-fo...
28/11/2025
DirecTV said it made a deal with EchoStar to buy EchoStar's video businesses, including satellite-TV provider Dish TV and virtual MVPD Sling TV, for $1 plus...
28/11/2025
The Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame, the premier industry event paying tribute to the influencers, innovators and shining lights of broadcast, cable and streami...
28/11/2025
Friday 28 November 2025
Sky Sports x Slawn drop limited-edition football jersey...
28/11/2025
Rohde & Schwarz shows resilience in a challenging environment, revenue exceeds t...
28/11/2025
Unwrapped: The Toy Show Appeal - airing this Sunday on RT One and RT Player- s...
27/11/2025
LONDON Vizrt has added several AI-driven advanced features offering improved speed, intelligence and accuracy in the newest version of its media asset managemen...
27/11/2025
Prime Video has launched AI-powered video season recaps in a beta version for select English-language Prime Original series in the U.S., a move Amazon is callin...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Netflix's Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders Marks a Grand...
27/11/2025
27 Nov 2025
GSMA brings M360 Eurasia 2026 to Samarkand in partnership with VEON...
27/11/2025
Tahar Rahim and Izuka Hoyle star in the gripping six-part Sky Original from Acad...
27/11/2025
Thursday 27 November 2025
Sky Arts Reveals the Nation's Greatest Basslines - and Queen Reign Supreme
The UK's most iconic basslines have been revealed...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things 5': Prepare for One Last Adventure With O...
27/11/2025
The media industry has a paradox at its core. It's an industry built on light, color and imagination, yet behind the scenes, it's powered by one of the ...
27/11/2025
Rating reflects rating progress across areas including policies, diversity & inclusion, health & safety and Net Zero leadership
Winchester, UK, 27 November 202...
27/11/2025
What are the industry standards for Retail Media? Kathryn explains that certification is based on the IAB Europe Retail Media Measurement Standards and the IAB ...
27/11/2025
World champion boxer and Irish sporting icon Katie Taylor will be in studio this...
27/11/2025
Roblox, one of the world's most popular online gaming platforms for primary ...
27/11/2025
Black Friday is leveling up. Get ready to score one of the biggest deals of the season - 50% off the first three months of a new GeForce NOW Ultimate membership...
26/11/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Prime Video EP Mike Muriano Previews Massive Black Friday Slate Fe...
26/11/2025
A cinematic snow sculpture at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. Photo by Randall Michelson...
26/11/2025
Book podcasts are booming. On Spotify, you'll find everything from celebrity book clubs to deep dives with bestselling authors. And in markets where audiobo...
26/11/2025
Mumbai, November 24, 2025: In a first-of-its-kind initiative, JioStar, in collab...
26/11/2025
LONDON Factual content producer ITN Productions has launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins....
26/11/2025
MIAMI TelevisaUnivision said it struck a new multiyear distribution agreement with YouTube TV that includes distribution of TelevisaUnivision's U.S. network...
26/11/2025
OpenDrives, Inc., a leader in software-defined data storage and data services, today announced the launch of the Atlas Corporate Creative Solution. This new Atl...
26/11/2025
Disguise, the industry-leading company powering the world's biggest live performances, is partnering with pioneering LED wall manufacturer DVS to give atten...
26/11/2025
HighField AI, the pioneer in agentic and multimodal automation for broadcast and media production, today announced the expansion of its global channel partner n...
26/11/2025
As high-stakes Premier League fixtures approach and additional premium content launches, with MONO positioning themselves to dominate Thailand's sports stre...
26/11/2025
Hosting a wide variety of events from high-intensity NHL games to complex live music concerts and major entertainment productions, Montreal's 21,000 capacit...
26/11/2025
Vizrt, the leader in live production technology revolutionizing viewer engagement and experience, releases AI-driven advances focusing on speed, intelligence, a...
26/11/2025
ITN Productions, an award-winning factual content producer, today launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins. Responsible for delivering a leading...
26/11/2025
Ikegami reports ongoing advances throughout 2025 in developing and delivering coordinated television production solutions that maximize quality, versatility and...
26/11/2025
Following the Nov. 21 blackout of NBCUniversal channels on Fubo, the two sides have traded barbs about their inability to reach a new carriage deal....
26/11/2025
LONDON As TV sports rights become increasingly important for both broadcasters and streamers, Ampere Analysis predicts global investment in the genre will surpa...
26/11/2025
LOS ANGELES Vubiquity said it has achieved the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Media & Entertainment Competency as part of the AWS Partner Network (APN). This designa...
26/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau said it has entered into a consent decree with Comcast calling for the cable company t...
26/11/2025
Berklee Named to the Hollywood Reporters Top Music Schools List The publication highlights the college's screen scoring program, industry partnerships, and ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
Animated Series Love Through a Prism' Casts New Light on ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
NALIP Unveils Fifth Cohort of Director Incubator
Social Impact
26 November 2025
United States
Link copied to clipboard
The National Assoc...
26/11/2025
YouView Achieves Greenly Gold Certification for SustainabilityNov 26, 2025
YouView is proud to announce a Gold Certification award from Greenly for our perform...
The tech world this week gets its first look under the hood of the NVIDIA BlueField data processing unit. The chip invented the category of the DPU last year, and it's already being embraced by cloud services, supercomputers and many OEMs and software partners.
