Broadcom Extends Leadership with New Advanced Functionality for Windows Server 2012

IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

News Highlights:

• Unlocks advanced virtualization, networking and storage features
• Increases server throughput performance up to 77 percent¹
• Reduces cost, complexity and deployment time through broad support for all current platforms

Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM), a global innovation leader in semiconductor solutions for wired and wireless communications, today announced support for advanced functionality in Windows Server 2012, enabling a powerful new class of enterprise and cloud data centers. As a result of its collaboration with Microsoft Corp. and leading tier-one OEMs, Broadcom now offers complete Windows Server 2012 support across all current platforms, including its NetXtreme^® adapters for Xeon® E5‑based servers launched earlier this year. Visit www.broadcom.com to learn more.

Broadcom has collaborated with Microsoft and leading tier-one OEM providers to develop new technologies to take advantage of numerous advanced virtualization, networking and storage features in Windows Server 2012 – increasing server throughput performance up to 77 percent while reducing CPU overhead up to 42 percent¹. Broadcom has further advanced its offering with complete in-box support, providing IT administrators with simplified installation, without the added step of separate driver upgrades.

Broadcom's new functionality for Windows Server 2012 helps enterprise and cloud data centers achieve unprecedented flexibility, scalability, performance and cost savings. Supported features include:

• Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) – Improves virtualization performance, scalability, isolation and security.
• Dynamic Virtual Machine Queue (DVMQ) – Spreads virtualization workloads across CPUs to improve overall performance.
• Receive Segment Coalescing (RSC) – Reduces processing overhead on server, enabling support for more virtual machines (VMs).
• Data Center Bridging Quality of Service (DCB-QOS) – Establishes multiple classes of service to guarantee necessary performance for mission-critical applications.
• iSCSI Offload (iSCSI HBA) and FCoE Offload (FCoE HBA) – Increases CPU efficiency, delivering industry's fastest converged network adapter (CNA) – 1.5M iSCSI IOPS and 2.5M FCoE IOPS².
• Kernel Debugging Over Ethernet (KDNET) – Allows organizations to remotely troubleshoot the network environment.

About the Broadcom NetXtreme Portfolio

Broadcom's NetXtreme Ethernet solutions shipping in multiple top-tier OEM servers – including Dell PowerEdge 12th generation and HP ProLiant Gen8 – improve virtualization by uniting data and storage networks on a common 10GbE fabric. Broadcom NetXtreme Ethernet adapters deliver line rate throughput that is 37 percent faster than the nearest CNA competitor, together with full support of iSCSI and FCoE offload storage protocols, capable of delivering up to 1.5 million iSCSI input/output operations per second (IOPS), or 2.5 million FCoE IOPS with superior CPU efficiency².

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Availability

Broadcom Windows Server 2012 NetXtreme II Ethernet solutions are currently shipping with multiple top tier OEM servers – including Dell PowerEdge 12th Generation, HP ProLiant Gen8, IBM, Cisco, NEC and Hitachi.

Quotes:

Ross Ortega, Principal Program Manager, Windows Networking, Microsoft Corporation

"Windows Server 2012 introduces groundbreaking innovations based on Microsoft's long experience with cloud services and datacenters. Broadcom has worked with Microsoft since early in the Windows Server 2012 development cycle to ensure that its products could make the most of those innovations from the start. By offering Windows Server 2012 support in its NetXtreme products right out of the gate and adding new functionality, Broadcom is providing a distinctive solution for Windows Server 2012."

Dennis Martin, President, Demartek

"Virtualization is transforming the modern data center and Broadcom continues to be at the forefront of innovation. Through its work with Microsoft and leading system vendors throughout the ecosystem, Broadcom has delivered compelling technology designed to maximize the benefits of Windows Server 2012." 

Bob Laliberte, Principal Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group

"Broadcom has worked with Microsoft and the tier-one server OEMs to ensure optimal performance and tightly integrated feature sets to help accelerate the transition to Windows Server 2012. Organizations will recognize significant benefits from the tight integration of Microsoft's new Windows Server 2012 operating system, the new Xeon E5-based servers from Dell, HP and others; and Broadcom's NetXtreme server I/O solutions." 

Dave Vellante, Chief Research Analyst, The Wikibon Project

"Wikibon members have given very high marks to Windows Server 2012, particularly with respect to virtualization functionality. Our research shows that efforts such as Broadcom's to align and tightly integrate with Microsoft and leading server OEMs significantly accelerates time-to-value for end customers. We expect the new class of server solutions emerging from this collaboration to support enterprise cloud adoption particularly for those customers who demand greater levels of performance and scalability."

Vinod Lakhani, Broadcom General Manager, High Speed Controllers

"The unprecedented demand for content and I/O-intensive applications has presented IT administrators with a dizzying array of challenges – from virtualization to cloud models to the capture and extraction of big data. The combination of Broadcom's 1GbE and 10GbE NetXtreme Ethernet solutions and Server I/O, Microsoft's Windows Server 2012 and top-tier OEM servers power a new class of data centers that overcome IT administrators' challenges and present new opportunities."

Resources:

¹ Based on internal Broadcom lab tests
² Demartek Performance Study, June 2012 
NetXtreme Enterprise Adapters Feature Page  
NetXtreme Ethernet Solutions for Dell 
NetXtreme Ethernet Solutions for HP 
ESG: Broadcom's Integrated Solutions for Cloud Scale Computing with Windows Server 2012

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®, NetXtreme 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