Broadcom Demonstrates the Industry's First 2.5 Gigabit End-to-End Networking Infrastructure Solution Optimized for Blade Servers
Combination of Broadcom® NetXtreme® II C-NICs and New StrataXGS® III Switches More Than Doubles Networking Throughput Using Existing Blade Infrastructure
In a Separate Demonstration, Broadcom Provides Sneak Peak of 10 Gigabit Ethernet C-NIC Prototype
GARDEN GROVE, Calif., April 19 / -- (Server Blade Summit), Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ:BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced that the company will demonstrate the industry's only 2.5 Gigabit end-to-end networking infrastructure solution optimized for blade servers at this week's Server Blade Summit, at the Hyatt Regency Orange County, Booth #401. The 2.5 Gigabit end-to-end solution combines Broadcom's NetXtreme® II converged network interface controllers (or C-NICs) with new StrataXGS® III network switches to deliver greater than twice the throughput of standard Gigabit networking while improving overall CPU utilization by up to five times. This infrastructure solution enables IT managers to provide both Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) and 2.5 Gigabit inside-the-box connectivity using currently deployed GbE equipment and server blades.
Today's blade servers rely on highly specialized fabrics to support the three data categories: storage, clustering and data networking. In this model, blade servers utilize specialized network fabrics for each network type resulting in a multi-fabric approach that drastically increases overall system cost and operational expenses, compromising the overall value of the blade server implementation. This challenge, coupled with the need to increase the bandwidth in existing network infrastructures to accommodate advanced business and multimedia applications, has IT managers eager for a better solution.
Broadcom addresses this IT challenge by demonstrating the industry's first end-to-end 2.5 Gigabit infrastructure solution optimized specifically for blade server applications. The demonstration at Server Blade Summit showcases the Broadcom® BCM5708S C-NIC with the newly announced BCM56580 StrataXGS III network switch running traffic across a blade server backplane at 2.5 Gigabit speeds. By utilizing BCM5708S remote direct memory access (RDMA) functionality with BCM56580 cut-through switching, the Broadcom demonstration compares 1GbE blade server performance versus its complete end-to-end 2.5 Gigabit solution, resulting in significantly higher performance while leveraging the existing 1GbE backplane.
Broadcom intends to make the technical specifications for 2.5 Gigabit electrical signaling and auto-negotiation technology available to support a robust 2.5 Gigabit ecosystem, enabling interoperable solutions between multiple vendors.
Product Descriptions
The NetXtreme II BCM5708S represents the second generation of C-NIC silicon solutions from Broadcom. The single-chip C-NIC features a serializer/deserializer (SerDes) transceiver that supports both 1GbE and a higher performing 2.5 Gigabit mode, as well as TCP/IP offload, iSCSI, RDMA and advanced PCI Express® host bus interface support. By integrating a 2.5 Gigabit SerDes, the BCM5708S C-NIC provides more than twice the blade server throughput and a reduction in CPU utilization, at comparable prices to today's standard 1GbE implementations, making it now possible to unleash improved system performance without adding cost.
The StrataXGS III BCM56580 (announced April 18, 2006) is a single-chip, high-density 2.5 Gigabit switch that features cut-through switching for low system latency and advanced quality of service (QoS). The new BCM56580 switch integrates a field-proven ContentAware(TM) engine that is capable of Layer 2 to Layer 7 classification with sophisticated traffic management capabilities. It also provides 16 ports of 2.5 Gigabit/1GbE, plus 4 ports of 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) switching, and features integrated SerDes to support both 1GbE and 2.5 Gigabit speeds. The 2.5 Gigabit speed can be utilized on currently deployed 1GbE hardware enabling IT managers to more than double the bandwidth of their existing 1GbE systems.
The new BCM56580 switch, when combined with the BCM5708S NetXtreme II C-NIC, provides the industry's only 2.5 Gigabit end-to-end solution, simultaneously performing storage networking, high-performance clustering, accelerated TCP/IP data networking and remote management pass-through, all over a single Ethernet fabric. Since the BCM56580 provides auto-negotiation for both 1GbE and 2.5 Gigabit speeds, server blades can be deployed easily and one at a time, enabling 1GbE and 2.5 Gigabit to simultaneously co-exist on the same system.
Broadcom Demonstrates 10GbE Server Prototype Solution
Broadcom will also showcase a complete, end-to-end 10GbE server solution at the Server Blade Summit utilizing its NetXtreme II 10GbE C-NIC prototype (currently under development), coupled with the StrataXGS III BCM56800 10GbE switch. Broadcom will equip its 10GbE C-NIC prototype and BCM56800 10GbE switch (running under the Linux® operating system) in a small cluster of servers to showcase how RDMA architecture and cut-through switching improves application performance.
About Broadcom
Broadcom Corporation is a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications. Our products enable the delivery of voice, video, data and multimedia to and throughout the home, the office and the mobile environment. Broadcom provides the industry's broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art system-on-a-chip and software solutions to manufacturers of computing and networking equipment, digital entertainment and broadband access products, and mobile devices. These solutions support our core mission: Connecting everything®.
Broadcom, one of the world's largest fabless semiconductor companies with annual revenue of more than $2.5 billion, is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and has offices and research facilities in North America, Asia and Europe. Broadcom may be contacted at 1-949-450-8700 or at www.broadcom.com.
Broadcom Trade Press Contact
Scott Harlin
Public Relations Manager
949-926-5226
sharlin@broadcom.com
Broadcom Investor Relations Contact
T. Peter Andrew
Vice President, Investor Relations
949-926-5663
andrewtp@broadcom.com
Broadcom Technical Contacts
Allen Light
Product Line Manager, NetXtreme II C-NICs
949-926-5744
alight@broadcom.com
John Mui
Product Line Manager, StrataXGS Switches
408-922-5638
jmui@broadcom.com
Source: Broadcom Corporation; BRCM Enterprise Networking
Web site: www.broadcom.com/
