Broadcom Announces Portfolio of Best-in-Class Ethernet Adapters and LOMs for Dell PowerEdge 12th Generation Servers

IRVINE, Calif., March 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

• Broadcom-powered adapters enable IT managers to maximize performance, efficiency and scalability of next-generation servers
• Best-in-class performance – Broadcom adapters achieve 37 percent faster networking throughput(1) and 120 percent higher iSCSI offload(2) than nearest competitor
• Adapters incorporate Broadcom-based MACs and PHYs, providing integrated single-chip solution for OEMs

Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM), a global innovation leader in semiconductor solutions for wired and wireless communications, today announced a new portfolio of Ethernet adapters for Dell PowerEdge 12th generation servers. Featuring Broadcom's latest generation of 1GbE and 10GbE NetXtreme controllers and the industry's highest performance networking silicon, the new adapters boost performance, efficiency and scalability of enterprise servers.  For more news from Broadcom visit our newsroom.

Dell is offering a wide range of new Broadcom-powered solutions for its 12th generation servers (seven new products) that include dual-port and quad-port network daughter cards (NDCs), network Interface cards (NICs), converged network adapters (CNAs) and Mezzanine cards.  These devices are designed for a wide variety of network configurations and are fully compatible with Dell PowerEdge^® blade and rack servers. 

Increasing demands for server virtualization, cloud computing, and I/O intensive applications are driving the need for greater processing capabilities in enterprise networks and data centers.  According to a recent survey by IDC, top priorities for IT managers in 2012 will include increasing adoption of virtualization, improving system management and adding new servers.(3)  Broadcom's latest Ethernet adapter solutions are engineered to help IT managers meet these demands while leveraging features and benefits that are associated with the new Dell PowerEdge 12th generation servers.

Broadcom's NetXtreme Ethernet adapters feature a highly-integrated 40nm single-chip solution that combines the company's media access controllers (MACs) with its physical layer transceivers (PHYs).  Engineered for use with 12G multi-core servers, the adapters deliver full line-rate throughput across all ports. To support enterprise and data center efficiency and scalability requirements, the adapters offer advanced functionality such as switch-independent NIC partitioning and IEEE 1588 time synchronization. They also take advantage of Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE), enabling lower power consumption (up to 42 percent less) for reduced IT operating costs.*

Industry Leading 10GbE Performance

Broadcom's new line of 10GbE Ethernet adapters deliver line rate throughput that is 37 percent faster than the nearest competitor.(1) The 10GbE adapters also provide full support of iSCSI and FCoE offload storage protocols and are capable of delivering up to 1.5 Million iSCSI I/Os per second (IOPS), 120 percent higher than the nearest competitor.(2) These adapters are optimized for virtualization by uniting data and storage networks on a common 10GbE fabric. By taking advantage of switch-independent NIC partitioning, Broadcom's solutions allow the server to adapt to a broad range of bandwidth configurations that reduce power and cooling costs while minimizing overall system complexity.

Dell has chosen Broadcom's new 1G and 10G network daughter cards (NDCs) to be the default offering across the Dell PowerEdge 12th generation server portfolio.  The products were recognized by Dell for delivering best-in-class performance and functionality.

For a full list of Broadcom-powered products from Dell, visit www.broadcom.com.

Market Drivers:

• Increasing traffic and richer content continues to grow on the Internet(4)
• Adoption of virtualization and other new server technologies/solutions viewed a priority by IT managers(3)
• Server-class network ports growing – total shipments to grow in excess of 20 percent in 2011(4)
• Increase in server-to-server communications(4)
• Ethernet adapters optimized for Dell PowerEdge 12th generation servers are a clear requirement for next-generation networks

Key Features:

• PCI Express® (PCIe™) Gen2.0 x8 (5GT/s) support
• Full line-rate performance across all ports
• Broad OS and hypervisor support
• Full iSCSI, FCoE-ready*, HBA-level hardware protocol offload
• Full TCP/IP hardware offload* engine (TOE)
• Switch Independent NIC partitioning – up to four partitioning assignments per 10GbE link*
• SR-IOV ready*
• Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE)*
• IEEE 1588 time precision protocol*

Availability

All Broadcom devices listed above are now shipping by Dell.

For ongoing Broadcom news visit our Newsroom, read our B-Connected Blog, or visit us on Facebook or Twitter. And to stay connected, subscribe to our RSS Feed.

Quotes:

Brian Payne, Executive Director of Platform Marketing, Dell
"Broadcom's NetXtreme Ethernet technology is an excellent complement to our PowerEdge 12^th generation servers. Our new and extensive portfolio of Broadcom-based adapters provide continuity, functionality and flexibility that IT managers demand and appreciate. The Broadcom products are key to our PowerEdge Select Network Adapter family and provide advanced features such as switch-independent partitioning and convergence that significantly enhance the value of the PowerEdge portfolio."

Jim Pappas, Director of Technology Initiatives, Intel Corporation
"We are pleased to see vendors like Broadcom take advantage of the new I/O performance features of the Intel^® Xeon^® processor E5-2600 product family – helping to build a rich Xeon^® Server ecosystem.  As the Intel^® Xeon^® processor E5-2600 product family raises the performance bar, it offers vendors such as Broadcom the ability to enable higher performing networking solutions, with the shared goal of driving towards a rich end-user experience."

Benjamin Woo, VP Storage and Big Data, International Data Corporation
"Increasing Internet traffic, cloud computing, virtualization, and new technologies such as Romley/Xeon E5 processors will continue to drive IT managers to seriously evaluate and implement major changes to their network systems.  As that demand rises, so does the need for Ethernet adapters that will enable these managers to meet the needs of multiple networking applications and traffic demands. Broadcom has taken a very significant step forward in advancing their leadership of networking and storage I/O by providing these solutions to OEMs."

Vinod Lakhani, General Manager, High Speed Controllers, Broadcom Corporation
"Broadcom's latest generation of CNAs are engineered to maximize the benefits of PowerEdge 12th generation servers. They leverage the company's long-standing industry-leading position in Ethernet technology and provide the highest level of performance, efficiency, and scalability for the enterprise data center. Broadcom's position as a leading provider of networking technology also gives OEMs a unique advantage of working with just one vendor to address their needs. Integrating MACs and PHYs into these devices as a single-chip solution is a perfect example of that benefit."

Resources:

(1) Demartek – Broadcom Adapter Evaluation
(2) Broadcom-internal benchmark tests
(3) IDC Top 10 Enterprise Server Predictions 2012, January 2012
(4) Crehan Research, Inc. – Server I/O Considerations – January 2012

*Available on select products

Supported Resources:

Broadcom Ethernet Adapters Featured Products Page

Broadcom News Room

B-Connected Broadcom Blog

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About Broadcom

Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM), a FORTUNE 500® company, is a global leader and innovator in semiconductor solutions for wired and wireless communications. Broadcom® products seamlessly deliver voice, video, data and multimedia connectivity in the home, office and mobile environments.  With the industry's broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art system-on-a-chip and embedded software solutions, Broadcom is changing the world by Connecting everything®. For more information, go to www.broadcom.com.

Broadcom^®, the pulse logo, Connecting everything^®, and the Connecting everything logo are among the trademarks of Broadcom Corporation and/or its affiliates in the United States, certain other countries and/or the EU.  Any other trademarks or trade names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE Broadcom Corporation; BRCM Infrastructure & Networking