Features and specifications

The adapters have the following features:

• One, two, or four 10/100/1000 copper ports with RJ45 for Cat 5e/6 cabling
• Full line-rate performance across all ports
• Low-profile form factor - supported by the majority of System x and iDataPlex servers
• PCI Express 2.0 host interface (NetXtreme II single-port is PCI Express 1.1)
• Jumbo Frames support (9600 bytes frames)
• IEEE 802.1q VLAN support - provides enhanced network management and efficiency
• I/O virtualization (IOV) support for VMWare NetQueue and Microsoft VMQ - improves network performance in virtualized environments
• IEEE 802.3x flow control support
• Receive and transmit side scaling
• TCP, IP, and UDP checksum offload
• Message Signaled Interrupts (MSI) and MSI-X support - Maximizes server processing performance by reducing CPU overhead and lowering interrupt latency
• On-chip temperature monitor (NetXteme I only)
• IEEE 802.3az Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE) compliant - Reduces adapter power consumption by up to 42% through intelligent adaptive power management, adjusting power based on data traffic load. (NetXtreme I only)
• IEEE 802.3z (Clause 30) - Statistics for SNMP MIB II, Ethernet like MIB, and Ethernet MIB (NetXtreme I only)
• IEEE 1588 Precision Time Control and 802.1AS time synchronization support - Provides greater accuracy of data packet delivery within the network (NetXtreme I only)
• TCP/IP Offload Engine (TOE) support (NetXtreme II dual and quad-port only)
• Hardware-based iSCSI offload (NetXtreme II dual and quad-port only)
• Management using Broadcom Advanced Control Suite (BACS), Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), and Broadcom Management API (BMAPI)

Table 2 compares the features of the cards. The NetXteme I adapters are a lower-cost offering using the latest Broadcom controller. The NetXtreme II adapters offer advanced features such as TOE and iSCSI offload.

Table 2. Features