The HighPoint Rocket 1624A is a high-performance PCIe 5.0 x16 NVMe Switch Adapter designed to provide fast, flexible, and scalable NVMe storage and PCIe expansion for enterprise servers, workstations, data centers, and edge computing environments.
Featuring two MCIO 8i (SFF-TA-1016) ports, the Rocket 1624A provides a dedicated PCIe Gen5 x8 link per port, enabling high-speed connectivity for enterprise and datacenter-class NVMe storage devices as well as compatible PCIe expansion devices.
Powered by the Broadcom PEX89048 48-lane PCIe switch, the adapter is engineered to optimize signal integrity, minimize latency, and maximize downstream connectivity through a single PCIe 5.0 x16 slot.
The Rocket 1624A supports U.2, U.3, E3.S and E1.S NVMe SSDs, as well as industry-standard PCIe devices such as GPUs and NICs. With native operating system support, it provides a convenient plug-and-play storage expansion solution across Windows and Linux platforms.
Key Features
- PCIe 5.0 x16 Bus Interface
- 2 × MCIO 8i (SFF-TA-1016) Ports
- Dedicated PCIe Gen5 x8 bandwidth per MCIO port
- Supports enterprise and datacenter-class U.2, U.3, E3.S and E1.S NVMe SSDs
- Supports industry-standard PCIe devices including GPUs and NICs
- Supports up to 16 NVMe drives through compatible backplane configurations
- Supports up to 2 PCIe x8 devices
- Up to 32GB/s bandwidth with support for 16 NVMe drives
- Powered by Broadcom PEX89048 48-lane PCIe Switch IC
- Optimized signal integrity and low-latency data transfer
- Hot-Swap / Hot-Plug device support
- Native support for mainstream operating systems
- Driverless deployment experience
- Supports Intel and AMD x86 platforms
- Supports ARM platforms
- Supports multi-adapter configurations
- Flexible and scalable firmware architecture
- Designed for enterprise, datacenter and edge computing environments
- Comprehensive direct-to-device and backplane cabling support
NVMe Storage Expansion
The Rocket 1624A maximizes the connectivity available through a single PCIe x16 slot. Its dual MCIO interfaces allow high-density NVMe storage configurations while maintaining high-speed PCIe Gen5 connectivity.
The adapter can provide connectivity for:
- U.2 NVMe SSDs
- U.3 NVMe SSDs
- E3.S NVMe SSDs
- E1.S NVMe SSDs
- PCIe expansion devices
- GPUs
- Network Interface Cards (NICs)
With compatible backplane configurations, the adapter can support up to 16 NVMe drives, making it suitable for high-capacity and data-intensive applications.
Broadcom PCIe Switching Technology
The Rocket 1624A leverages the Broadcom PEX89048 PCIe switch IC to provide high-density downstream connectivity from a PCIe Gen5 x16 host interface.
The PCIe switching architecture is designed to:
- Maximize available PCIe bandwidth
- Optimize signal integrity
- Minimize latency
- Improve system stability
- Enable flexible downstream device configurations
- Increase storage and PCIe connectivity density
Flexible and Scalable Architecture
The Rocket 1624A features configurable firmware designed to accommodate a wide range of storage infrastructure requirements.
Configurable PCIe lane counts allow system designers and integrators to optimize data flow and transfer performance according to specific applications, workloads and hardware configurations.
This flexibility makes the Rocket 1624A suitable for evolving enterprise and edge-computing infrastructures where storage capacity and PCIe connectivity requirements may change over time.
Enterprise & Datacenter Backplane Support
The Rocket 1624A is designed to integrate with industry-standard storage backplanes and infrastructure.
It supports technologies and management interfaces including:
- UBM – Universal Backplane Management
- VPP – Virtual Pin Port
- SMBus
- I2C
- MCTP
- SMC
- Real-time storage health and connectivity monitoring
These capabilities help provide reliable storage administration, monitoring and connectivity across enterprise hardware environments.
Multi-Adapter Support
Multiple Rocket 1624A adapters can be installed within a single workstation or server environment.
This enables system builders to scale NVMe storage and PCIe device connectivity beyond the capabilities of a single motherboard PCIe slot, making the adapter suitable for high-density storage servers and advanced workstation configurations.
MCIO to PCIe Expansion
The MCIO-PCIEX16-G5 expansion bridge card can be used with compatible MCIO connections to convert an MCIO interface into a full-sized PCIe Gen5 x16 slot.
Each bridge card can accept up to two MCIO connections and provide up to x16 lanes to a connected PCIe device, expanding system connectivity and helping overcome conventional motherboard PCIe slot limitations.
Performance & Connectivity
The Rocket 1624A is engineered to maximize performance and connectivity density from a single PCIe 5.0 x16 slot.
It provides:
- Up to 32GB/s bandwidth
- Support for up to 16 NVMe drives
- Support for up to 2 PCIe x8 devices
- High-speed PCIe Gen5 connectivity
- Low-latency PCIe switching
- Scalable storage architecture
- Hot-plug and hot-swap support
Operating System & Platform Support
The Rocket 1624A is natively supported by mainstream operating systems and is designed for a driverless, plug-and-play deployment experience.
Supported Platforms
- Intel x86
- AMD x86
- ARM
Compatible Operating Systems
- Windows
- Linux
- Other mainstream operating systems with native NVMe/PCIe support
Applications
The Rocket 1624A is ideal for applications requiring high-speed, high-density storage and PCIe expansion, including:
- Enterprise Servers
- Data Centers
- Edge Computing
- High-Performance Workstations
- NVMe Storage Servers
- Video Production & Media Workflows
- AI & Machine Learning Infrastructure
- High-Performance Computing
- Enterprise Storage Systems
- GPU Expansion
- High-Speed Networking
- Data-Intensive Applications
Technical Specifications
| Specification | Details |
|---|---|
| Model | Rocket 1624A |
| Product Type | PCIe Gen5 x16 NVMe Switch Adapter |
| Bus Interface | PCIe 5.0 x16 |
| MCIO Ports | 2 × MCIO 8i (SFF-TA-1016) |
| Lane Configuration | Dedicated PCIe Gen5 x8 per MCIO port |
| NVMe Support | U.2, U.3, E3.S, E1.S |
| NVMe Devices | Up to 4 direct / up to 16 via compatible backplane |
| PCIe Device Support | Up to 2 × PCIe x8 devices |
| Switch IC | Broadcom PEX89048 48-Lane PCIe Switch |
| Maximum Bandwidth | Up to 32GB/s |
| Hot-Plug / Hot-Swap | Supported |
| Multi-Adapter Support | Supported |
| Platform Support | Intel/AMD x86 and ARM |
| Operating System Support | Windows, Linux and mainstream OS platforms |
| Backplane Support | UBM, VPP and storage management interfaces |
| Management Interfaces | SMBus, I2C, MCTP, SMC |
| Application | Enterprise, Datacenter, Workstation and Edge Computing |
Why Choose Rocket 1624A?
The HighPoint Rocket 1624A combines PCIe Gen5 performance, high-density NVMe connectivity and flexible PCIe expansion in a single-slot solution. Its dual MCIO architecture and Broadcom PCIe switching technology make it an excellent choice for modern storage infrastructures requiring scalable performance and connectivity.
Whether used for enterprise NVMe storage, high-performance computing, GPU expansion, networking or edge applications, the Rocket 1624A provides a flexible platform for building high-speed and scalable PCIe storage systems.
