Ivan Kuleshov's Uptime Compute Blade Is an Enterprise-Grade Raspberry Pi CM4 Cluster Solution

Engineer and self-described hardware hacker Ivan Kuleshov has launched a crowdfunding campaign for the Uptime Compute Blade, a rack-mountable enterprise-grade compute cluster design built around the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 (CM4) system-on-module (SOM).

"The device is a rack-mountable, PoE [Power over Ethernet]-powered carrier board for Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 and compatible devices with all the necessary interfaces," Kuleshov explains of his creation. "With Compute Blade, you can create a high-density, low-power-consuming, plug-and-play blade server for home or data center use."

The project began in late 2020, when Kuleshov began mocking up a design for a blade-style cluster chassis which would pack up to 22 Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 SOMs into 1U of rack space. Each device would, he explained, have its own high-performance Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) storage, gigabit Ethernet, micro-HDMI, and USB Type-C connectivity. In total, and assuming you picked the highest-end CM4 modules, you could have 88 Arm Cortex-A72 cores, 176GB of RAM, and up to 44TB of storage.

In its latest revision, Kuleshov's product range is split into three tiers. The Uptime Compute Blade Basic is the entry-point, offering a CM4 carrier with M.2 M-key connectivity for NMVe storage or other expansion, gigabit Ethernet with 30W PoE support, a hardware UART bus, a header port, an externally-accessible button linked to a general-purpose input/output (GPIO) pin, and status LEDs. The Uptime Compute Blade TPM, meanwhile, adds a USB Type-A port for external hardware and includes an on-board Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0.

The Uptime Compute Blade Dev rounds out the range, offering everything from the two models below plus an HDMI port, a USB Type-C port for bootloader updating, and a microSD slot for alternative storage. It's also the only model to come with user-configurable bootloader support, including the ability to load a recovery image by bringing nRPIBOOT high.

Kuleshov's crowdfunding campaign is now live on Kickstarter, with rewards starting at €60 (around $65) for a single Compute Blade Basic, bring your own Raspberry Pi CM4; the top-end reward offers two Compute Blade Dev boards, 18 Basic boards, a 19" BladeRunner enclosure, ten fans, 20 custom heatsinks, and 20 Raspberry Pi CM4 8GB SOMs, for €3,820 (around $4,110.) Early bird rewards are expected to ship in May, with other tiers spread throughout 2023.