BittWare

FPGA Accelerators and Systems for HPC, AI, and Telecommunications

BittWare, a subsidiary of the Molex group, is a global supplier of FPGA-based accelerator boards and systems for data centers, high-performance computing (HPC), AI, and telecommunications. With over 30 years of experience, the company designs and manufactures enterprise-quality FPGA hardware solutions that enable its customers to deploy demanding applications quickly and with reduced risk.

BittWare distinguishes itself through its expertise in integrating the most advanced FPGAs from Intel (Altera), AMD (Xilinx), and Achronix, offering certified and tested products for optimal reliability in professional and industrial environments. Its boards are available in PCIe as well as VPX formats, and its solutions cover needs ranging from AI acceleration to network optimization, including massive data processing for defense and aerospace.

Key Technologies and Expertise

BittWare’s technical excellence is based on mastery of the design and integration of complex FPGA systems.

  • Integration of leading-edge FPGAs: Use of Intel Agilex (M-Series, I-Series, F-Series) and AMD (Xilinx) Versal, Virtex UltraScale+ and Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC families. Support for the Intel oneAPI programming model.

  • High-performance interfaces: Design of boards leveraging the latest interconnect standards, with support for PCIe Gen 4 and Gen 5 interfaces (up to 16 lanes) and the CXL (Compute Express Link) protocol for memory access and data coherence, with throughputs up to 400 Gb/s.

  • Integrated and external memory: Use of HBM2e (High-Bandwidth Memory) integrated into the FPGA package, as well as DDR4 and DDR5 memory banks for very high total memory bandwidth.

  • Rugged design and qualification: BittWare boards are designed for long lifecycles and high reliability requirements, with ruggedization options for military and aerospace environments (standards-compliant design, conduction cooling, etc.).

  • Tools and support: Provision of an optimized Board Support Package (BSP), IP libraries, design examples, and dedicated technical support. Also offers application integration and optimization services.

Product Ranges

BittWare offers an extensive range of products covering market needs, from PCIe boards to rugged integrated systems.

1. PCIe Accelerator Boards

Boards for servers and workstations, available in various form factors (full-height, half-length, low-profile).

  • IA Series (Intel Agilex) : Includes the IA-860m (M-Series with HBM2e and PCIe 5.0/CXL), IA-420f (F-Series), and IA-440i/640i (I-Series) for SmartNICs and storage.

  • 520 Series (Intel Stratix) : Such as the 520C (Stratix 10) for HPC applications and the 520N-MX (Stratix 10 with HBM2).

  • XUP Series (AMD / Xilinx) : Such as the XUP-VV8 (Virtex UltraScale+) and XUP-P3R, offering different levels of logic resources and network connectivity.

2. Direct RF Products

BittWare offers a range of direct radio frequency products for direct sampling, based on AMD Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC chips. These products combine RF analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters with an FPGA and an ARM processor on a single chip, eliminating traditional intermediate conversion stages.

  • RFX Series: PCIe cards and modules for direct RF sampling between 50 MHz and 6 GHz.

    • RFX-880: Model offering up to 400 Gb/s of digital I/O via QSFP-DD, with integrated amplification and filtering options.

    • RFX-770: Variant with configurable filtering and amplification options to target different Nyquist zones.

  • WaveBox: Enclosures and servers designed to host RFX cards in standalone or rack-mount mode.

3. Rugged Modules and Systems (VPX & Ruggedized)

Robust solutions for harsh environments (defense, aerospace).

  • VPX format boards: Integration of high-performance FPGAs in 3U VPX format for critical embedded applications, with a roadmap including Direct RF products.

  • Custom systems: Design of custom modules, from PCIe boards to integrated systems, including module miniaturization (e.g., 50% reduction of an RFSoC module).

4. Integrated Systems

Turnkey solutions for rapid deployment.

  • TeraBox Servers: Pre-configured integration of BittWare boards into rack servers.

  • Complete embedded systems: Assembly of components (SBC, FMC, power supplies) for specific applications.

Main Application Areas

BittWare solutions are deployed in many demanding sectors, where hardware acceleration is a major asset.

  • Data Centers, AI, and HPC: Acceleration of inference and machine learning, database analysis, high-frequency financial computing, scientific computing.

  • Telecommunications and Networks: Signal processing for 5G, SmartNICs for network acceleration, high-speed packet switching. Direct RF products are particularly suited for Satcom base stations and test and measurement equipment.

  • Defense, Aerospace, and Government: Sensor processing, electronic warfare (COMINT, ELINT, SIGINT), radar, avionics, guidance systems.

  • Industry and Automation: Industrial vision, motion control, predictive maintenance, video surveillance.

  • Healthcare: Medical imaging, genome analysis, drug discovery.

Why BittWare is a Strategic Partner for EMG2

At EMG2, we provide innovative technology building blocks and electronic solutions, particularly in embedded systems (FPGA & MPSoC boards and systems, Box PCs & GPGPUs), networks and radio frequencies, and vision (Edge AI/ML). BittWare perfectly complements our offering by bringing state-of-the-art accelerator boards and FPGA modules, including its Direct RF solutions, ideal for applications requiring exceptional computing power and low latency.

Our collaboration allows French customers to benefit from:

  • Local EMG2 support in France, for technical assistance and close consulting on BittWare ranges.

  • Simplified access to BittWare boards and systems, from COTS PCIe models to ruggedized solutions for defense.

  • Complementary expertise to integrate these accelerators into complex systems (vision, motion control, embedded systems, radio frequencies).

  • A tailored response for AI, telecommunications, defense, research, and industry projects requiring high-performance and robust computing solutions.

We support our customers in the selection and integration of BittWare solutions, offering technical expertise for implementation, thereby ensuring the success of their most demanding projects.

Next Steps