A transit authority AI factory diagram lists only GPUs and leaf-spine switches. What component should network engineers add before procurement to complete the AI factory networking picture?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
If the transit diagram shows GPUs and switches but no BlueField tier, it is like drawing a subway map with trains and stations but forgetting the signaling system. BlueField DPUs belong in the AI factory component list for networking and security offload—add them before the purchase order goes out.
Full Explanation
A transit authority AI factory diagram that lists only GPUs and leaf-spine switches is incomplete for procurement. Network engineers should add NVIDIA BlueField DPUs alongside the GPUs and fabric switches so the architecture includes host-side networking and security offload. BlueField closes the gap between accelerator nodes and Spectrum (or InfiniBand) fabric: it offloads packet processing, isolation, and related I/O so transit ML jobs are not bottlenecked on host CPUs while still using the planned leaf-spine paths for multi-node traffic.
Standard data-center NICs on CPU hosts for east-west AI traffic are already assumed in a leaf-spine AI factory diagram and do not add the host-side offload, isolation, or security processing that BlueField provides; naming NICs again does not fill the missing tier. Spectrum Ethernet switches dedicated to out-of-band management traffic are a separate, already-expected management plane; adding more of them says nothing about the GPU-node offload gap the diagram is missing. NVLink Switch trays to link scalable units across Ethernet fabric describes the wrong technology for the wrong layer—NVLink is a GPU-to-GPU interconnect within or between scalable units, not something that rides over the Ethernet fabric, and it does not provide the DPU-class offload the diagram lacks. The missing procurement item is therefore the BlueField DPU tier next to GPUs and fabric switches—not additional host NICs, more management switches, or misapplied NVLink hardware.
Exam caveat: incomplete diagrams that show accelerators and switches but omit DPUs are a common NCP-AIN trap; the correct remediation is to add BlueField (DPU offload), not to invent consumer, routing, or flattened-topology substitutes. Operational check: before purchase orders freeze, mark the transit diagram with BlueField on each GPU node, confirm port and cable counts include DPU uplinks into the leaf-spine, and walk the BOM so DPU SKUs appear with GPU and Spectrum line items rather than being deferred as “optional NIC accessories.”