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adapters, saving cost, power, and complexity. For more informa-
tion on virtualization please go to www.intel.com/go/vtc.
Unified Networking and Storage
The family of Intel Ethernet X520 server 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 X520 server
adapters offer FCoE hardware acceleration to provide performance
comparable to FC HBAs. The server adapters support Data Center
Bridging, also known as Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE),
which allows customers to configure traffic classes and priorities
to deliver a lossless Ethernet fabric. An Intel Ethernet X520 server
adapter reduces TCO by eliminating redundant fabrics
and saves the cost of expensive FC HBAs and FC switch ports.
Support for iSCSI
The server adapters provide complete support for proven native
OS and VMM iSCSI initiators as well as iSCSI boot. Historically,
CRC32C 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 server adapters do it all:
10 Gigabit LAN, FCoE, and iSCSI; truly delivering on the promise
of unified networking.
Reliable Performance
The family of X520 server adapters include a number of advanced
features that allow 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 X520 server adapter allows customers to run a
secure network environment without sacrificing performance.
PCIe v2.0 (5 GT/s)
PCIe v2.0 (5 GT/s) support enables customers to take full advan-
tage 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
allow the X520 server adapters to provide high-performance, 10
Gigabit connectivity in multi-core server blades. These technolo-
gies distribute network processing across multiple CPU cores,
improving overall performance.
Features Benefits
General
Intel® 82599 10 Gigabit Ethernet Controller • Industry-leading, energy-efcient design for next-generation 10 Gigabit performance
and multi-core processors
SFP+ Connectivity • X520 Server Adapters with SFP+ connections support 10GBASE-SR, 10GBASE-LR and SFP+ Copper
Direct Attach physical media.
Low-prole • Enables higher bandwidth and throughput from standard and low-prole PCIe slots and servers
Load balancing on multiple CPUs • Increases performance on multi-processor systems by efciently balancing network loads across
CPU cores when used with Receive-Side Scaling (RSS) from Microsoft or Scalable I/O on Linux*
iSCSI remote boot support • Provides centralized storage area network (SAN) management at a lower cost than other iSCSI
solutions
Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) Support • Includes FCoE Boot and Data Center Bridging
Support for most network operating systems (NOS) • Enables widespread deployment
RoHS-compliant
2
• Complies with the European Union directive 2002/95/EC to reduce the use of hazardous materials
Intel® PROSet Utility for Windows* Device Manager • Provides point-and-click management of individual adapters, advanced adapter features, connection
teaming, and virtual local area network (VLAN) conguration
Time Sync (IEEE 1588, 802.1as) • Enables networked Ethernet equipment to synchronize internal clocks according to a network master
clock; endpoint can then acquire an accurate estimate of the master time by compensating for link
latency
I/O Features for Multi-core Processor Servers
Intel® Direct Cache Access (DCA): • Enables the adapter to pre-fetch the data from memory, avoiding cache misses and improving
application response time
MSI-X support • Minimizes the overhead of interrupts
• Allows load-balancing of interrupt handling between multiple cores/CPUs
Low Latency Interrupts • Based on the sensitivity of the incoming data, the adapter can bypass the automatic moderation
of time intervals between the interrupts
Header Splits and Replication in Receive • Helps the driver focus on the relevant part of the packet without the need to parse it
Multiple Queues: 128 Tx and Rx queues per port • Network packet handling without waiting or buffer overow providing efcient packet prioritization