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14 Oct 2025Form Number
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Table of Contents
Abstract
The ThinkSystem Cornelis CN5000 OPA QSFP112 HFI Adapter is a high-performance Omni-Path Host Fabric Interface (HFI) adapter that is purpose-built to deliver industry-leading performance in extreme-scale environments. The adapter has one QSFP112 cage that that supports 400Gb Omni-Path connectivity with under 1 µs of MPI latency.
This product guide provides essential presales information to understand the Cornelis CN5000 adapter and its key features, specifications, and compatibility. This guide is intended for technical specialists, sales specialists, sales engineers, IT architects, and other IT professionals who want to learn more about the Cornelis CN5000 adapter and consider its use IT solutions.
Introduction
The ThinkSystem Cornelis CN5000 OPA QSFP112 HFI Adapter is a high-performance Omni-Path Host Fabric Interface (HFI) adapter that is purpose-built to deliver industry-leading performance in extreme-scale environments. The adapter has one QSFP112 cage that that supports 400Gb OPA connectivity with under 1 µs of MPI latency.
The following figure shows the air-cooled 1-port variant of the Cornelis CN5000 adapter. The water-cooled adapter used direct-connect cold plates and copper piping to remove heat from the adapter.
Figure 1. ThinkSystem Cornelis CN5000 OPA QSFP112 HFI Adapter (Air-cooled adapter)
Did you know?
Omni-Path offers benefits like high performance, low latency, and superior scalability for High-Performance Computing (HPC) and AI workloads by using adaptive and dispersive routing. OPA provides improved reliability with advanced error correction, cost-effectiveness through CPU-fabric integration and higher node counts per switch, and flexibility with support for multiple routing methods and standard protocols.
Part number information
The following table shows the ordering information.
| Part number | Feature code | Description | Cornelis equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4XC7B00138 | CB7C | ThinkSystem Cornelis CN5000 OPA QSFP112 HFI Adapter DWC (Generic FW) | CN5HFA1Q5NLS |
The option part number includes the following:
- One Cornelis adapter with full-height (3U) adapter bracket attached
- Low-profile (2U) adapter bracket
- Documentation
Supported transceivers and cables
The Cornelis CN5000 adapter has one empty QSFP112 cage for connectivity.
The following table lists the supported optical cables.
| Part number | Feature code | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Cornelis CN5000 400G QSFP-QSFP AOC Active Cable-Straight | ||
| 4X97B09876 | CBPR | Cornelis 20m CN5000 400G QSFP-QSFP AOC Active Cable-Straight |
The following table lists the supported direct-attach copper (DAC) cables.
Features
Maximum Performance at Any Scale
The CN5000 SuperNIC delivers unmatched scalability through dynamic adaptive routing, traffic flow optimization, and credit-based flow control. It supports lossless and congestion-free data transmission using fine-grained adaptive routing and dynamic lane scaling—ensuring low tail latency, high throughput, and robust data integrity even in the most demanding environments.
With these architectural features, including optimized link protection, the CN5000 SuperNIC maximizes compute efficiency, improves system reliability, and lowers total cost of ownership across AI and HPC deployments at scale.
Telemetry for Precision Control
The CN5000 SuperNIC is equipped with advanced telemetry engines, delivering real-time insights and granular network visibility to optimize AI and HPC workloads. The CN5000 SuperNIC continuously monitors traffic patterns and enables automated congestion mitigation and real-time traffic adjustment, reducing manual troubleshooting and improving workload stability.
With industry-leading, real-time telemetry and precision network intelligence, CN5000 SuperNICs ensure unparalleled visibility, efficiency, and control by delivering high-performance networking across compute environments at any scale.
Reliability and Adaptability for Maximum Efficiency
In AI and HPC, consistent and reliable network performance is crucial for maximizing computational efficiency. The CN5000 SuperNIC features advanced error correction and dynamic network function placement, ensuring maximum network efficiency.
The CN5000 SuperNIC offers maximum resiliency to ensure uptime even during failures and no error-driven retries. These innovations deliver superior reliability and adaptability for evolving AI and HPC environments, minimizing downtime, reducing retransmissions, and helping ensure high system availability for mission-critical workloads.
Advanced Networking for Generative and Agentic AI and HPC Workloads
Designed for demanding AI and HPC workloads, the CN5000 SuperNIC provides 400G bidirectional bandwidth, maximizing data throughput across the fabric. Its architecture prioritizes ultra-low latency and high message rates with sub-1μs MPI latency, ensuring timely inferencing and accelerated AI model training.
The CN5000 SuperNIC optimizes real-time inferencing, shortens feedback loops, and reduces time-toresults. Its robust and efficient design makes it the ideal choice for highly parallelized applications at any scale.
Omni-Path Architecture
CN5000 Architecture delivers lossless and congestion-free data transmission with credit-based flow control and dynamic fine-grained adaptive routing. It is designed for maximum performance, reliability, scalability, and data integrity with dynamic lane scaling and optimized link protection.
Technical specifications
- Performance
- Single-port 400Gb Omni-Path connectivity
- Greater than 800 million packets/s
- Less than 1 µs MPI latency
- Supports >100K node clusters
- Key Features
- Supports MSI-X interrupt handling
- Enhanced resource scaling
- Optimized send and receive buffer management for high message rate applications
- Supports Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV)
- Supports industry standard management interfaces
- Configurable from one to four VLs plus one management
- Configurable MTU size of 2 KB, 4 KB, 8 KB, or 10 KB VL
- PCI Express Base Specification 5.0 compliant
- Advanced Features
- Advanced Congestion Management
- Fine-Grained Adaptive Routing (FGAR)
- Static Dispersive Routing (SDR)
- Management Features
- Optimized for scalable MPI and SHMEM message rate and latency
- Includes support for standard telemetry protocols (PLDM, MCTP, Redfish) to streamline system integration and firmware updates
- Integrated management processor supports host monitoring, query, and updates.
- Supported interfaces include:
- MCTP over SMBus
- MCTP over PCIe
- PLDM for Platform Monitoring and Control
- PLDM for Firmware Update
- PLDM for Redfish Device Enablement (RDE) support
Support of adapters with generic firmware
One or more of the adapters described in this product guide uses standard vendor firmware (look for "Generic FW" or "Generic" in the adapter names). These adapters are supported in Lenovo servers however there are currently limitations on the use of Lenovo management tools.
Support in Lenovo XClarity management tools for adapters with generic firmware is per the following table.
Tip: Always use firmware that is obtained from Lenovo sources to ensure the firmware is fully tested by Lenovo and is supported. You should not use firmware that is obtained from the vendor web site, unless directed to do so by Lenovo support.
Operating system support
The adapter supports the operating systems listed in the following table.
Tip: This table is automatically generated based on data from Lenovo ServerProven.
Regulatory approvals
The adapter has the following regulatory approvals:
- Emissions/Immunity:
- US: FCC Part 15, Subpart B, Class A
- Canada: CAN ICES-3(A)/NMB-3(A) Issue 7
- Europe: EN55032 (CISPR32), EN55035 (CISPR35), EN61000-3-2, EN61000-3-3
- Japan: VCCI, Class A
- AS/NZ: CISPR 32, Class A
- Korea: KS C 9832 Class A (Emissions), KS C 9835 (Immunity)
- Taiwan: BSMI (CNS 15936), Class A
- Safety:
- US/Canada: TUV NRTL 62368-1, CSA 22.2. No. 62368-1
- Europe: TUV EN662365-1
- International: CB Scheme: IEC 62368-1 , IEC 60950-1
- Environmental:
- RoHS Directive 2011/65/EU2,
- RoHS Directive 2015/863
- REACH Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006
Operating environment
The adapter has the following operating characteristics:
- Temperature
- Operating: 0 to 55°C (derated 1°C/175 m above 900 m)
- Storage: -40 to 70°C
- Humidity
- Operating: 10% to 85% non-condensing
- Storage: 5% to 95% non-condensing
- Altitude
- Operating: 0 to 3,200 m
- Storage: 0 to 10,000 m
Warranty
One year limited warranty. When installed in a Lenovo server, the adapter assumes the server’s base warranty and any warranty upgrades.
Related publications
For more information, refer to these documents:
- Lenovo ServerProven compatibility information
http://serverproven.lenovo.com - Cornelis CN5000 product page:
https://www.cornelisnetworks.com/product/cornelis-cn5000-omni-path-adapters
Trademarks
Lenovo and the Lenovo logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Lenovo in the United States, other countries, or both. A current list of Lenovo trademarks is available on the Web at https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/legal/copytrade/.
The following terms are trademarks of Lenovo in the United States, other countries, or both:
Lenovo®
ServerProven®
ThinkSystem®
XClarity®
The following terms are trademarks of other companies:
AMD is a trademark of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Intel® is a trademark of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries.
Linux® is the trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries.
Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.
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