February 2026, Written by PCB Design Kft.
The Edge Micro Data Center (EMDC) is CAPE’s high-density edge computing platform designed to bring data center performance closer to where the data is generated. Instead of sending large volumes of data to centralized clouds, EMDC enables local processing at the edge; reducing latency, bandwidth consumption, and operational costs. It is specifically designed for demanding applications such as AI, satellite data processing, and industrial analytics.
Architecture
The EMDC platform is built around a modular architecture, where computing resources are dynamically assembled based on workload requirements. The system integrates multiple COM-HPC compute modules that can host traditional CPUs as well as heterogeneous accelerators such as GPUs, FPGAs, and RISC-V processors. These are interconnected through a high-bandwidth PCIe Gen5/Gen6 fabric with CXL support, enabling dynamic pooling of processors, memory, accelerators, and storage.
Modular Compute and Switching Fabric
At the core of EMDC is a high-performance switching infrastructure. Dedicated PCIe Gen6 switch boards enable ultra-low-latency communication between compute nodes and accelerators, while a separate 40/100G Ethernet switch provides high-speed external connectivity and internal traffic routing. This separation of data and control planes ensures both performance and scalability.
The architecture supports advanced accelerator modules such as NVIDIA Orin GPUs, Microchip HPSC RISC-V processors, and FPGA SoCs, which can be dynamically assigned to workloads, enabling efficient use of resources for AI inference, real-time analytics, or signal processing.
Housing and Mechanical Design
The EMDC is designed for standard 19” rack deployment, making it compatible with existing telecom, industrial, and data center infrastructure. All major components are implemented as easy, node-by-node assembly hot-swappable boards, allowing maintenance and upgrades without system downtime. Internal cable-based interconnections provide maximum flexibility while simplifying assembly and repair.
Cooling and Thermal Management
To support high-power accelerators and dense compute configurations, EMDC uses a multi-level cooling strategy. At the equipment level, direct-to-chip liquid cooling and closed-loop heat pipes are used to efficiently remove heat, which allows reliable operation even for components exceeding 300W thermal design power.
At the building level, EMDC supports long-distance heat transmission, enabling waste heat recovery for secondary applications such as district heating. In addition, CAPE introduces an innovative passive cooling concept called SERaC (Self-charging Evaporative-Radiative Cooling). These panels combine radiative heat emission with evaporative cooling using advanced materials and superhydrophobic self-cleaning surfaces. This allows EMDC systems to dissipate heat with minimal energy consumption, even in outdoor rooftop installations.
Summary
The EMDC platform represents a new generation of edge infrastructure, combining data center performance with the flexibility of modular hardware. Through its composable architecture, advanced cooling concepts, and open management framework, EMDC enables scalable, sustainable, and sovereign edge computing, empowering European organizations to deploy high-performance workloads locally while maintaining full control over data and infrastructure.
