Mellanox Delivers Single-Chip 10 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter

New Adapter Provides Exceptional Ethernet Connectivity Performance Optimized for Low-Power, Multi-Core CPUs, and Virtualized Server and Storage Data Center Infrastructure
Interop Las Vegas 2007
Booth #2019

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mellanox™ Technologies, Ltd. (NASDAQ:MLNX), a leading supplier of semiconductor-based, high-performance interconnect products, today announced the immediate availability of ConnectX™ EN Dual-Port 10 Gigabit Ethernet adapter chips and NICs (Network Interface Cards) which optimize data center productivity with leading throughput and latency performance. Applications such as clustered databases, web infrastructure and virtualized solutions that utilize ConnectX EN deliver an enhanced user experience while reducing data center infrastructure power and complexity as compared to multiple, slower speed Gigabit Ethernet and Fibre Channel connections. Because no external memories or interface support devices are required, ConnectX EN is the most integrated 10 Gigabit Ethernet adapter - ideal for low power blade servers and volume LAN on Motherboard designs.

“Our performance leading ConnectX EN adapters deliver optimized 10 Gigabit Ethernet I/O services that easily scale with multi-core CPUs and virtualized server and storage architectures,” said Eyal Waldman, chairman, president and CEO of Mellanox Technologies. “Mellanox’s extensive experience with high-performance InfiniBand connectivity and broad range of industry relationships has enabled us to also provide Ethernet products which achieve unprecedented integration and performance that support the needs of our customers.”

“As the volume market leader in high speed interconnects, specifically 10 and 20Gb/s InfiniBand products, Mellanox is well positioned to understand the challenges with driving 10 Gigabit Ethernet products to volume,” said Bob Wheeler, Senior Analyst for The Linley Group. “The feature set of ConnectX EN is clearly designed to take advantage of the growing multi-core CPU and virtualization trends in the industry, and the simplicity of the single-chip design is ideal for volume applications.”

Key features of the ConnectX EN 10 Gigabit Ethernet adapter products include:

* Leading performance: ConnectX EN has achieved an industry leading 17.6Gb/s bi-directional throughput and TCP/IP latencies of less than 7 microseconds. Uni-directional traffic is line rate in either direction.
* Multi-core optimizations: Whether it’s Microsoft Windows using RSS (Receive-Side Scaling), Linux, or virtualized environments such as VMware, ConnectX EN spreads traffic evenly across computing cores or virtual machines to enable dynamic rebalancing and optimized application performance.
* Virtualization enhancements: ConnectX EN provides a comprehensive set of features that complement Intel and AMD virtualization technologies, optimize traffic flow and accelerate I/O traffic processing in virtualized server deployments. Support for current and future VMware and Xen based solutions provides investment protection and guards against obsolescence.
* Leading integration: ConnectX EN is a single chip design and does not require external memories or interface support devices (for CX4 copper cables or XFP optical fiber modules). This translates to reduced power, board space and cost, as well as higher reliability. The small silicon adapter package (21mm x 21mm) is well suited for embedded and volume LAN on motherboard designs.
* Class Based Flow Control: ConnectX EN sets the stage for the emerging new generation of Ethernet standards by supporting an extension to the 802.3x IEEE PAUSE standard which enables finer grain traffic rate control, enabling true realization of converged wire benefits without risking transmission interruption of critical traffic.

Software Compatibility

ConnectX EN is supported with standard Microsoft Windows, Linux and other popular operating system TCP/IP and iSCSI protocol stacks which enables seamless networking and storage application integration without the need to replace standard OS components with proprietary software patches. Host-resident TCP/IP support under Linux enables the open source community to stand behind the protocol stack implementation, and any code updates can be quickly supported. ConnectX EN also supports additional enhancements through software upgrades that address the evolving demands on data center connectivity, including support for RDMA-enabled protocol stacks developed by the OpenFabrics Alliance (www.openfabrics.org). This unique capability, broadly deployed on performance-leading InfiniBand fabrics today, further accelerates the performance of clustered high-performance computing and data center applications over 10 Gigabit Ethernet networks.

Pricing and Availability

Available today, ConnectX EN Dual-Port 10 Gigabit Ethernet adapter chips and NICs feature a PCI Express x8 host interface. Volume OEM pricing for the ConnectX EN adapter chip, with integrated XAUI, CX4, KX4 and XFI interfaces is currently $182. Volume OEM pricing for the ConnectX EN adapter NICs supporting dual CX4 copper 10GigE interfaces is currently $405. ConnectX EN adapter NICs that support fiber SR and LR XFP module connectivity are also available (pricing available upon request).

Visit Mellanox at Interop, Las Vegas May 21-24, Mandalay Bay Convention Center

Visit the Mellanox booth (#2019) at Interop to see live demonstrations of ConnectX EN in addition to presentations and information on Mellanox’s full line of leading InfiniBand and Ethernet connectivity products.

About Mellanox

Mellanox Technologies is a leading supplier of semiconductor-based, high-performance, InfiniBand and Ethernet connectivity products that facilitate data transmission between servers, communications infrastructure equipment and storage systems. The company’s products are an integral part of a total solution focused on computing, storage and communication applications used in enterprise data centers, high-performance computing and embedded systems.

Founded in 1999, Mellanox Technologies is headquartered in Santa Clara, California and Yokneam, Israel. For more information, visit Mellanox at www.mellanox.com.