OCP NIC Community Update�April 2026

�����Sub-group Project Wiki: https://www.opencompute.org/wiki/Server/NIC�

Mailing List: https://ocp-all.groups.io/g/OCP-NIC

Agenda

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• Thermal Test Fixture update
• IPMI FRU Mfg Date/Time rollover
• Thermal workstream update

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OCP NIC TTF contribution

Dell is contributing the latest OCP TTF

Update: Presented to OCP Server Group on March 25th, awaiting OCP SC approval

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• Supports all active form-factors: SFF, TSFF, DSFF, TDSFF
• Up to PCIe Gen 6
• Design files: < Google Drive Link >
• Github for the MCU: https://github.com/bentprong/ocp_ttf_dsff

Board Info Area Format Mfg Date/Time Rollover

• Defined by the IPMI FRU Storage Information Specification. Last updated March 2015.
• Board Info Area Format has a 3-byte Mfg Date/Time field.
• Defined as the number of minutes from 0:00 hrs 1/1/1996.
• Rolls over Nov 24th, 2027.

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Option 1: OCP NIC leaves the Mfg Date/Time field as-is and allows the value to roll over with a start year ambiguity (1996, 2027, 2058, etc). Possibly following the OpenBMC format: https://gerrit.openbmc.org/c/openbmc/entity-manager/+/87782

Option 2: OCP NIC cards may start using the value of 00_00_00h (“unspecified”) going forward and is required to use 00_00_00h after Nov 24th, 2027.

Option 3: OCP NIC amends the 0xC0 Base OEM Record with a four byte manufacturing date field that starts from 0:00 hrs Jan 1st, 1996.

Option 4: OCP NIC amends the 0xC0 Base OEM Record with a four byte manufacturing date field that starts from 0:00 hrs Nov 24th, 2027.

E-mail reflector thread: https://ocp-all.groups.io/g/OCP-NIC/message/324

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Company Input (thus far):

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Add DMTF option 5 → Next slide

Board Info Area Format Mfg Date/Time Rollover

Option 5: Implement a DMTF FRU (DSP0220) format in “hybrid” mode. Enables a gradual transition to the DMTF FRU. Backwards compatible.

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High Level Changes:

• Add a new DMTF OEM Record (0xC0, IANA 0xB41A00) containing a four-byte offset to the new DMTF General FRU Record File position.
• BMCs that don’t understand the DMTF OEM Record will skip/ignore the new data.
• Option 2 would also be implemented (zero out the mfg date/time field) and, at minimum, includes a new structure with a 13-byte Manufacture Date Field.
• Card vendors may populate additional field types (such as the Manufacturer, Part Number, Serial Number) as defined in DSP0257.
• Field Types with IPMI equivalents shall have the same data replicated in the DMTF FRU section.

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Pros:

• Maintains backwards compatibility with existing FRU format.
• Minimal effort for NIC vendors.
• Existing OCP NIC 3.0 IPMI OEM Records continue to be used as-is
• Can co-exist with the IPMI FRU format and I2C EEPROMs.
• Baseboard vendors may already support DSP0220 FRU formats.

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Cons:

• DMTF needs tools/validators/minor specification clarifications.
• Misbehaved BMCs need to be examined.

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Common Header

Board Info Area

Product Info Area

Thermal Workstream Update - LC TSFF

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• Liquid cooling feasibility study complete
• 3 mechanical design concepts
• Updated thermal model results for each concept
• Need feedback from NIC community
• Next steps
• Share in system level workstream (MHS?) for feedback

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Thank You

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Proposed OCP NIC 1.7 Inputs for PCIe Budgets

PCIe CEM 7.0 Draft 0.5

Page 17 of the

Draft 0.5 Spec

Now Rev 1.0

Also refer to PCIe Base Spec 7.0 section: 8.3.5

The following informative limits for PCIe Gen 7 at 128 GT/s are to be specified. Current investigative efforts are ongoing by the OCP NIC sub-group to determine a specified set of values to cover Insertion Loss, Return Loss, PSNEXT and PSFEXT.

New Section 6.1.3.4 PCIe Gen 7 Informative Limits

Proposed OCP NIC 1.7 Inputs for Informative Limits

OCP Academy

• OCP is looking for volunteers to create OCP NIC e-learning content
• Some chapters possibly:
• History and overview of motivations
• Detailed current spec
• Real-world implementation
• Future directions (cooling, features etc)