Xsight’s E1: Arm-based, 5nm, 800Gbps, Full Control-plane & Data-path Programmability
The rapidly changing demands of hyperscale data centers and AI-driven systems require substantially faster development speed than what is possible with configurable pipelines. Network infrastructure that can be programmed and adapted in real time is crucial. The E1-SoC, by Xsight Labs, delivers just that: a fully programmable 800G Data Processing Unit (DPU) that combines raw throughput with exceptional flexibility.
The E1: A New Kind of DPU
Xsight’s E1 expands the boundaries of performance and efficiency. Unlike other architectures that integrate configurable pipelines with auxiliary cores for slow-path tasks, Xsight’s design utilizes many parallel cores as the primary data plane engines. This approach supports a single, unified SDK spanning both the control and data planes, removing the need to divide applications across multiple execution environments. The outcome is a coherent programming model and operating system stack that delivers full software programmability and enables real-time adaptability to evolving workloads.
On top of that, leveraging TSMC 5nm node not only delivers industry-leading performance per watt but also reduces total cost of ownership by packing more compute density into a smaller footprint.
Built for Business Outcomes
The true value of the E1 lies in how it empowers organizations to tackle their most pressing challenges. From strengthening security to modernizing storage and reimagining switches, the E1 enables data centers to operate with greater efficiency, agility, and confidence for today and the future.
Security
By bringing security directly into the data path, the E1 delivers protection at wire speed while offloading critical tasks from host CPUs. Its programmable architecture enables hardware-accelerated TLS and IPsec for large-scale encryption, secure domains that enforce workload isolation, and deep packet inspection to implement distributed firewalls and Zero Trust models. Unlike fixed-function NICs that can only forward packets, the E1 adapts to evolving threats in real time—whether by updating firewall policies, applying anomaly detection models, or integrating compliance-driven logging. By consolidating encryption, inspection, and AI-assisted threat detection into a single platform, the E1 strengthens defenses, ensures predictable performance under heavy loads, and simplifies security operations in modern, multi-tenant data centers.
Storage
The E1 DPU brings storage services into the data path, offloading NVMe over Fabrics, NWMe/TCP, and iSCSI from host CPUs to deliver predictable performance at scale. Its programmable design supports open frameworks like SPDK, enabling storage fabrics to evolve without forklift upgrades. The E1 can operate as an initiator, a storage target, or in bump-in-the-wire mode to add inline services such as encryption, compression, or tiering. With support for locally attached NVMe SSDs, it also functions as a high-performance cache or standalone storage head. These capabilities make the E1 a core building block for platforms like Open Flush Platform, where scalable, efficient storage is critical for AI and cloud workloads.
Smart Switches
Instead of relying on configurable pipelines, the E1 delivers full programmability across networking, security, and telemetry allowing services like stateful firewalls, load balancing, or monitoring to run directly in the switch. This consolidation enables faster innovation, lower infrastructure costs, and simpler operations, making it ideal for cloud, telecom, and enterprise environments that need agility at scale. The outcome is a transformation from legacy fixed function switches into intelligent, service-rich platforms.
Tomorrow’s Data Center
Designed to accelerate modern data center workloads, the E1 integrates programmable compute with high-throughput networking. In storage, its PCIe Gen5 connectivity, NVMe virtualization, and SPDK/DPDK support enable efficient offload of block and object storage services, improving IOPS density while reducing/eliminating host CPU overhead. For security, the E1 incorporates hardware root of trust, memory encryption, and inline/ look-aside crypto engines (AES-XTS, AES-GCM), providing secure isolation, trusted execution, and wire-speed data protection. In AI environments, the E1’s 800 Gbps networking and 64 Arm Neoverse N2 cores offer a fully software-defined datapath for cluster interconnect, telemetry, and data movement, enabling scalable GPU/accelerator fabrics with Ultra Ethernet Transport (UET) and RoCEv2 support. These capabilities position the E1 as a versatile platform for secure, high-performance infrastructure across storage, security, and AI workloads
The process technology and unique programmable design make E1 a future-proof DPU: powerful enough to handle today’s most demanding AI and cloud traffic, yet flexible enough to support new protocols, offloads, and services as the data center landscape shifts.
A Breakthrough DPU
- Unified programmable model: Control-plane and data-plane are unified under a software-driven model, enabling full-stack programmability unmatched by traditional DPUs.
- Enterprise-grade and open: With Linux-based support and Arm SystemReady compliance, E1 fits seamlessly into existing infrastructure and tooling.
- Versatile deployment: From cloud to edge, and smart-NIC to edge server, E1’s modular hardware and software flexibility accommodate a wide array of scenarios.
- Proven at scale: Demonstrated performance through real-world benchmarks underscores its readiness for demanding deployments.
Further proving its industry leading performance and robustness, the E1 recently passed SONiC-DASH Hero 800G validation, achieving 14.25 million connections-per-second (CPS) under heavy load with zero dropped packets, 19% above the required benchmark.
Xsight’s E1-SoC heralds a new era of fully programmable high-speed DPUs, blending Arm-based compute, 5 nm efficiency, 800 Gbps throughput, and open, software-first programming models. With real validation benchmarks and a flexible platform that supports Linux and standard SDN/SDS frameworks, E1 is more than a hardware marvel, it’s a future-proof compute fabric for AI, hyperscale, and edge data centers. Best of all, it’s ready for you today.
