Product Overview

The HighPoint RocketStor 4243AS is an entry-level NVMe-over-Fabrics (NVMe-oF) storage solution designed to bring high-performance, fabric-attached NVMe block storage to mid-market enterprises, AI infrastructure, media production environments, and edge computing deployments.

Built around a combination of hardware-accelerated NVMe-oF technology and high-density NVMe storage connectivity, the RocketStor 4243AS provides a scalable and cost-effective approach to Composable Disaggregated Infrastructure (CDI).

The system combines a 24-bay NVMe storage enclosure, integrated HighPoint Rocket 1528D PCIe switch technology, and a Western Digital RapidFlex™ C2000 NVMe-oF Fabric Bridge to deliver high-speed network-attached NVMe storage with minimal host and enclosure CPU overhead.

With support for both NVMe/TCP and NVMe/RoCE v2, the RocketStor 4243AS can integrate with standard Ethernet infrastructure while also providing a path toward ultra-low-latency RDMA-based storage networking.

Key Features

• Entry-level NVMe-over-Fabrics (NVMe-oF) storage platform
• 2U rack-mount chassis
• 24 independent NVMe drive bays
• Supports standard 2.5-inch U.2 NVMe storage media
• Hardware-accelerated NVMe-oF offload
• Powered by WDC RapidFlex™ C2000 Fabric Bridge
• 2 × 100GbE network ports
• Dual 100GbE line-rate connectivity
• Supports NVMe/TCP
• Supports NVMe/RoCE v2
• Up to 120 independent host initiators
• Dedicated PCIe lane architecture for individual drive bays
• Integrated HighPoint Rocket 1528D PCIe Switch Adapter
• Approximately 45GB/s internal storage bandwidth
• Open, vendor-agnostic storage platform
• Supports U.2/U.3 NVMe SSDs from multiple vendors
• Integrated ARM-based BMC
• Redfish® API support for remote management
• Out-of-band (OOB) management
• Real-time hardware telemetry
• No proprietary drive lock-in
• Designed for enterprise, AI, media and edge workloads

Disaggregated Server Storage

The RocketStor 4243AS separates high-performance NVMe storage from individual servers, allowing multiple host systems to access centralized NVMe storage over a high-speed Ethernet fabric.

This disaggregated architecture enables organizations to:

• Centralize high-performance NVMe storage
• Share storage resources between multiple servers
• Scale storage independently from compute resources
• Reduce infrastructure complexity
• Improve storage utilization
• Build flexible software-defined infrastructure
• Support multiple independent host systems

The result is a more flexible storage architecture compared with conventional locally attached storage.

Hardware-Accelerated NVMe-oF Fabric Offload

At the core of the RocketStor 4243AS is the Western Digital RapidFlex™ C2000 dedicated NVMe-oF Fabric Bridge.

The C2000 performs NVMe-oF protocol processing using dedicated hardware, reducing the processing burden on the storage enclosure’s management resources.

Key Benefits

• Hardware-accelerated NVMe-oF processing
• Reduced CPU overhead
• Consistent high-speed network performance
• Efficient multi-host connectivity
• Optimized storage networking
• Transparent hardware bridge architecture

The RocketStor 4243AS is designed to provide 100GbE line-rate performance while minimizing the processing overhead associated with software-based NVMe-oF target implementations.

Support for Up to 120 Hosts

The RapidFlex C2000 fabric bridge enables the RocketStor 4243AS to support up to 120 independent host initiators simultaneously.

This allows the storage system to serve multiple servers and workloads from a centralized NVMe storage pool while maintaining hardware-managed connectivity.

It is particularly useful for:

• Multi-server environments
• Virtualization infrastructure
• AI compute clusters
• Media production facilities
• Enterprise storage networks
• Regional data centers
• Edge computing deployments

Flexible NVMe-oF Connectivity

The RocketStor 4243AS supports two major NVMe-over-Fabrics transport technologies, allowing organizations to select the networking architecture that best matches their infrastructure and workload requirements.

NVMe/TCP

NVMe/TCP allows NVMe-oF storage to operate over standard Ethernet networks.

Benefits include:

• Easy deployment
• Broad network compatibility
• No specialized storage fabric required
• Integration with existing Ethernet infrastructure
• Flexible and cost-effective storage networking

NVMe/TCP is suitable for organizations looking to deploy disaggregated NVMe storage using their existing network infrastructure.

NVMe/RoCE v2

For applications requiring extremely low latency and high throughput, the RocketStor 4243AS supports NVMe/RoCE v2 using RDMA technology.

RoCE v2 is particularly suited to demanding workloads such as:

• AI/ML training
• High-performance computing
• 8K video editing
• Real-time data processing
• High-speed storage workloads

Note: Maximum RDMA performance requires a RoCE-capable SmartNIC on the host initiator.

High-Density 24-Bay NVMe Storage

The RocketStor 4243AS features a 2U rack-mount chassis with 24 independent drive bays.

Each bay is designed to accommodate standard 2.5-inch U.2 NVMe storage media, allowing organizations to create high-density NVMe storage pools within a compact rack-mount enclosure.

Storage Architecture

• 24 independent NVMe drive bays
• Standard 2.5-inch drive form factor
• U.2 NVMe support
• High-density storage configuration
• Dedicated connectivity architecture
• Designed for enterprise and industrial deployment

Lane-per-Drive Architecture

The RocketStor 4243AS uses the HighPoint Rocket 1528D PCIe Switch Adapter to provide a dedicated PCIe Gen4 x1 lane to each of the 24 NVMe drive bays.

This architecture provides approximately 45GB/s of internal storage bandwidth, designed to efficiently support the system’s dual 100GbE network interfaces.

By using a lane-per-drive architecture rather than an excessively over-provisioned PCIe configuration, the system is designed to balance performance, power consumption and thermal efficiency.

Optimized Power and Thermal Efficiency

The RocketStor 4243AS is designed with power efficiency and thermal management in mind.

The reduced PCIe lane architecture helps lower the internal thermal load compared with highly over-provisioned switching architectures.

Benefits include:

• Reduced internal heat generation
• Improved thermal conditions for NVMe SSDs
• Reduced risk of thermal throttling
• Improved hardware reliability
• Lower cooling requirements
• Reduced operational energy consumption

This makes the RocketStor 4243AS well suited to environments where power consumption, cooling capacity and operating costs are important considerations.

Open Platform – Bring Your Own Drive

The RocketStor 4243AS provides a vendor-agnostic storage platform, giving users the freedom to select NVMe SSDs based on performance, capacity, availability and budget.

Compatible U.2/U.3 NVMe SSDs can be sourced from manufacturers such as:

• Samsung
• Micron
• SanDisk
• Solidigm
• Other compatible NVMe SSD manufacturers

This open architecture helps reduce vendor lock-in and provides greater flexibility when designing storage systems.

Integrated Storage Adapter

The RocketStor 4243AS incorporates the HighPoint Rocket 1528D PCIe Switch Adapter for high-density NVMe connectivity.

The integrated storage architecture provides:

• Dedicated connectivity to individual drive bays
• Efficient PCIe resource allocation
• Real-time hardware telemetry
• Drive status monitoring
• Power consumption monitoring
• Host connection monitoring

This provides administrators with improved visibility into the health and operation of the storage infrastructure.

Integrated NVMe-over-Fabrics Controller

The system includes a WDC RapidFlex C2000 Fabric Bridge Adapter with:

• 2 × 100GbE ports
• Dual 100GbE line-rate connectivity
• Hardware-accelerated NVMe-oF offload
• NVMe/RoCE v2 support
• NVMe/TCP support
• High-speed fabric connectivity

This integrated architecture eliminates the need for a separate external NVMe-oF target controller in the storage enclosure.

Remote Management

The RocketStor 4243AS includes an ARM-based Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) for remote and out-of-band system management.

Management Features

• Out-of-band (OOB) management
• Integrated BMC
• Redfish® API support
• Hardware telemetry
• Drive status monitoring
• Host connection monitoring
• Power consumption monitoring

The Redfish® API allows the system to integrate with existing infrastructure management, orchestration and monitoring platforms.

No Drivers, No Constraints

The RocketStor 4243AS is designed to work with operating systems that provide a compatible NVMe-oF initiator.

This provides a simplified deployment model without requiring proprietary target-side drivers.

Supported environments include:

• Linux
• Windows Server 2025
• VMware
• Other compatible NVMe-oF initiator platforms

Target Applications

Media & Video Production

The RocketStor 4243AS provides high-speed shared storage suitable for collaborative media workflows.

Ideal applications include:

• 4K video editing
• 8K video editing
• Collaborative post-production
• High-speed media scratch storage
• Shared production storage
• Media asset workflows

Enterprise IT & Virtualization

The system can provide high-efficiency block storage for modern software-defined infrastructure.

Applications include:

• Post-VMware migration environments
• Proxmox deployments
• Software-defined storage (SDS)
• Virtualization infrastructure
• Multi-server storage
• Enterprise block storage

AI & Edge Computing

The high-speed NVMe and 100GbE architecture makes the RocketStor 4243AS suitable for regional AI and edge environments.

Applications include:

• AI/ML training
• AI data ingestion
• High-speed data buffering
• Regional AI pods
• Edge computing
• Data-intensive workloads

Chassis & Hardware Architecture

Why Choose RocketStor 4243AS?

The HighPoint RocketStor 4243AS provides an accessible entry point into NVMe-over-Fabrics and disaggregated storage without the complexity and cost traditionally associated with enterprise storage arrays.

Its combination of 24 NVMe bays, dual 100GbE connectivity, hardware NVMe-oF acceleration, support for RoCE v2 and TCP, 120-host connectivity, open drive compatibility and Redfish management makes it a flexible platform for modern enterprise, media, AI and edge environments.