Intel's family of adapters, the Intel Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X520 with SFP+ connectivity, are the most flexible and scalable Ethernet adapters for today's demanding data center environments. Data center networks are being pushed to their limits. The escalating deployments of servers with multi-core processors and demanding applications such as High Performance Computing (HPC), database clusters, and video-on-demand are driving the need for 10 Gbps connections- Customers require flexible and scalable I/O solutions to meet the rigorous requirements of running mission-critical applications in virtualized and unified storage environments.

Powered by Intel's third-generation 10 GbE network controller, the Intel Ethernet 82599 10 Gigabit Ethernet Controller, the X520 adapter family addresses the demanding needs of the next-generation data center by providing unmatched features for visualization, flexibility for LAN and SAN networking, and proven, reliable performance.

The explosive growth in visualization is leading to an increasing demand for network performance. With more Virtual Machines (VMs) running on each multi-core server, networking traffic is dramatically increased, with each VM competing for available I/O bandwidth. Intel's family of Intel Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X520 addresses networking bottlenecks in virtualized environments. These adapters enable network-intensive applications to achieve the performance expected in a virtualized environment.

The Intel Ethernet X520 family of adapters provides the best networking performance available in the industry, whether the physical port is configured in an emulation mode using the virtual switch in the Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM), or is directly assigned to a virtual machine. In the emulation mode, Intel's I/O technology. Virtual Machine Device queues (VMDq) optimizes network performance by offloading data sorting and copying from the software Virtual Switch in the VMM to the Intel Ethernet 82599 10 Gigabit Controller. This configuration is best suited for a large number of VMs running standard applications that have limited bandwidth and latency requirements.

For mission-critical applications, where| dedicated I/O is required for maximum network performance, users can assign a dedicated virtual adapter port to a VM. Using the PCI-SIG SR-IOV capability on an Intel Ethernet X520 adapter provides direct VM connectivity and data protection across VMs. SR-IOV technology enables the data to bypass the software virtual switch and provides near-native performance. It assigns either physical or virtual I/O ports to individual VMs directly. This technology is best suited for applications that demand the highest I/O throughput and lowest latency performance such as database, storage, financial and other applications.

PCI-SIG SR-IOV is a mechanism for devices to advertise their ability to be directly assigned to multiple virtual machines. SR-IOV enables the partitioning of a PCI Express* (PCIe) function into many virtual interfaces for the purpose of sharing the resources of a PCIe device in a virtual environment These virtual interfaces are called Virtual Functions. Each virtual function can support a unique and separate data path for 1/0-related functions within the PCIe hierarchy. Use of SR-IOV with a networking device, for example, enables the bandwidth of a single port (function) to be partitioned into smaller slices that can be allocated to specific VMs, or guests, via a standard interface.

The family of Intel Ethernet X520 adapters lowers your data center total cost of ownership (TCO) by providing the ability to route LAN and SAN traffic over a single fabric.

Support for Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)
FCoE encapsulates Fiber Channel frames over standard Ethernet networks, enabling Fiber Channel to take advantage of 10 GbE networks while preserving its native protocol. The X5Z0 adapters offer FCoE hardware acceleration to provide performance comparable to FC HBAs. The adapters support Data Center Bridging, also known as Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE), which enables customers to configure traffic classes and priorities to deliver a lossless Ethernet fabric. An Intel Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X5Z0 reduces TCO by eliminating redundant fabrics and saves the cost of expensive FC HBAs and FC switch ports.

Support for iSCSI
The adapters provide complete support for proven native OS and VMM iSCSI initiators as well as iSCSI boot. Historically, CRC3ZC computation has degraded system performance, but now with the CRC instruction set included in the latest Intel Xeon processors, CRC validation is possible with minimal impact to network throughput while delivering superior data integrity.

The Intel Ethernet family of X520 adapters do it all: 10 Gigabit LAN, FCoE, and iSCSI; truly delivering on the promise of unified networking.

The family of X5Z0 adapters includes a number of advanced features that enable it to provide industry-leading performance and reliability.

Security Optimizations
The adapters support IPsec offload for Microsoft's* Network Access Protection (NAP), Active Directory,* and future security capabilities in Windows 7*. An X5Z0 adapter enables customers to run a secure network environment without sacrificing performance.

PCIev2.0(5GT/s)
PCIe vZ.O (5 GT/s) support enables customers to take full advantage of 10 GbE by providing a maximum of 20 Gbps bi-directional throughput per port on a single dual port card.

Designed For Multi-core Processors
Support for technologies such as multiple queues, receive-side scaling, multiple MSI-X vectors, and Low Latency Interrupts enable the X520 adapters to provide high-performance, 10 Gigabit connectivity in multi-core server blades. These technologies distribute network processing across multiple CPU cores, improving overall performance.

For today's demanding virtualized data center environments, the new family of X5Z0 adapters deliver ultimate flexibility and scalability.