Information

Power Management Technologies
Today, companies everywhere are looking
for ways to decrease energy consumption
across the enterprise to reduce costs and
environmental impact, while at the same
time solving increasingly important power
density challenges. That’s why Intel has
introduced new, advanced Power Man-
agement Technologies (PMTs that enable
enterprises to congure power options on
the adapter and more effectively manage
power consumption.
Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE)
The Intel Ethernet Server Adapter I210
family supports the IEEE802.3az Energy
Efcient Ethernet (EEE) standard so that,
during periods of low network activity,
EEE reduces the power consumption of an
Ethernet connection by negotiating with a
compliant EEE switch port to transition to
a low power idle (LPI) state.
This reduces the controller power to ap-
proximately 50% of its normal operating
power, saving power on the network port
and the switch port. When increased net-
work trafc is detected, the controller and
the switch quickly come back to full power
to handle the increased network trafc.
EEE is supported for both 1000BASE-T
and 100BASE-TX.
DMA Coalescing
Another power management technology
that can reduce power on the server plat-
form is DMA Coalescing (DMAC). Typically,
when a packet arrives at the adapter, a
DMA request is initiated in order to place
the packet into host (or server) memory.
This transaction wakes up the processor,
memory, and other system components
from a lower power state in order to
perform the tasks required to handle the
incoming packet.
Based on the congurable DMAC settings,
incoming packets are buffered momen-
tarily before any DMA calls are made.
This enables the controller to intelligently
identify opportunities to batch multiple
packets together so that when compo-
nents are wakened from lower power
states they can efciently handle the
batched packets at the same time. This
enables platform components to remain
in lower power states longer, which can
dramatically reduce platform energy
consumption. DMAC synchronizes DMA
calls across all controller ports to ensure
maximum power savings.
Environmentally Friendly Design
The Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter I210
Family is low halogen
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and completely
lead-free to reduce the potential for
environmental impact. This, in combination
with power management technologies,
a unique ventilated bracket, and space-
saving design make this adapter an ideal
solution for compact workstations and
entry-level servers.
With Coalescing. With more time between
DMA calls, components can reach lower
power states and remain in them longer
No Coalescing. As shown by the red line,
components have less time between DMA
calls to reach and stay in lower power.
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Normal Power EEE Enabled
0.81 Watts
0.45 Watts
Power Savings w/EEE
Energy Efficient Ethernet Power Savings.
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