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Multifunction Adapter Brings Advanced Offload Capabilities Such as Linux Sockets Acceleration to Blade Server Customers: NetXen, Inc., a leading provider of breakthrough 10-Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) technology and products, announced that its NetXen Intelligent NIC solution will be used in the HP NC512m Dual Port 10GbE Multifunction BL-c Server Adapter. The HP NC512m network adapter includes NetXen’s Linux Sockets Acceleration (LSA) for the HP BladeSystem c-Class family of high-performance blade servers. NetXen’s Intelligent NIC controller is now offered in 10GbE adapters across the entire portfolio of HP BladeSystem servers, providing a consistent user experience and feature set for 10GbE connectivity. The HP NC512m multifunction server adapter offers the highest bandwidth available in an HP BladeSystem Ethernet adapter and supports stateful Linux TCP offloading based on NetXen’s LSA technology. Support for accelerated iSCSI (Internet Small Computer System Interface) and RDMA (Remote Direct Memory Access) are planned for future firmware releases. The NC512m is compatible with the new corresponding HP 10Gb Ethernet BL-c Switch, providing a complete solution for 10-Gigabit connectivity all the way from the server to the core network. “The NetXen Intelligent NIC solution simplifies the process for customers to upgrade to 10GbE performance in the datacenter,” said David Pulling, president, NetXen. “The availability of 10-Gigabit Ethernet adapters that utilize NetXen’s Intelligent NIC controllers across HP’s entire BladeSystem c-Class ProLiant server family moves 10GbE one step closer to becoming the technology foundation for a unified datacenter communications fabric.” “HP BladeSystem c-Class delivers the highest level of blade innovation in the industry which is helping our customers effectively and efficiently operate their businesses,” said Mark Potter, vice president, BladeSystem Division, HP. “In addition to providing significant increases in blade server I/O bandwidth, our new dual-port NC512m multifunction server adapter uses NetXen’s efficient offload technology to improve network processing performance.” The NetXen NX2031 Intelligent NIC is a highly integrated, dual-port network controller that features two 10GbE ports and a native x8 PCI Express (PCIe) interface. It improves the efficiency of 10GbE-based servers by enabling them to offload a variety of protocols including TCP/IP, RDMA, iSCSI and security. The Intelligent NIC is fully programmable, providing the NC512m the capability to add these features via future firmware upgrades.