NetXen, Inc., the leader in mainstream 10 Gigabit Ethernet server connectivity, today announced immediate availability of its NX3031 ultra-flexible and highly upgradeable third-generation NetXen Intelligent NICs^® with FlexLOM™ technology. NetXen’s NX3031 silicon and boards deliver the industry’s highest performance for next-generation, mainstream server environments. As the server industry’s first upgradeable quad-to-10 Gigabit LAN on motherboard (LOM) architecture for volume blade and rack server platforms, NetXen’s patented FlexLOM technology equips the NetXen NX3031 Intelligent NIC silicon to be the long-heralded catalyst for the volume server industry’s migration to 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE).

“NetXen’s FlexLOM solution clearly differentiates them from other 10 Gigabit Ethernet NIC vendors and should accelerate the industry transition from Gigabit to 10 Gigabit Ethernet. The cost effectiveness and upgradeability of the FlexLOM technology is extremely attractive for OEMs and end users alike. And, when combined with the highest performance numbers I’ve seen to date, the NX3031 delivers impressive price/performance,” said Bob Wheeler, Senior Analyst, The Linley Group. “As 10 Gigabit server connections evolve from costly network interface cards to sophisticated LOM architectures designed for mainstream high-volume servers, the new NX3031 silicon positions NetXen as a technology leader in 10 Gigabit Ethernet.”

Running Windows and operating in stateless NIC mode, NetXen’s NX3031-based Intelligent NICs deliver a quantum leap in network I/O performance. According to a new Tolly Group Up to Spec Certified test, NetXen achieves 22 Gbps of bi-directional throughput and greater than 14 Gbps receive throughput for 1500-byte packets. These test results represent a near doubling of previous industry benchmarks. This best-in-class performance milestone is achieved through a new form of stateless offload enabled by the programmability of the Intelligent NIC.

"Both with 1500-byte frames and with Jumbo Frames, the NX3031 delivered ultra-high throughput coupled with extremely low CPU utilization," said Kevin Tolly, president and CEO, The Tolly Group. "This underscores the effectiveness of the new stateless offload capabilities of the NetXen NX3031."

NetXen’s NX3031 Intelligent NIC family of chips and boards has been specifically designed to address both current and future go-to-market needs of volume server OEMs. For the cost of a 25-cent connector and a small riser card that incorporates the customer’s choice of physical layer interface, servers are instantly readied for the transition from Gigabit to 10 Gigabit Ethernet. The solution enables server OEMs to commit 10 Gigabit Ethernet to the motherboard without worrying about a specific connectivity variant, such as SPF+, CX4 or the emerging 10GBASE-T. This “above-board” connectivity option future-proofs their servers while removing risk for both the OEM and the end user.

“Our third-generation Intelligent NIC solutions harness the power of the FlexLOM architecture to provide server OEMs and board manufacturers with an effortless, affordable and high-volume transition from Gigabit to 10 Gigabit Ethernet,” said Govind Kizhepat, CEO and founder, NetXen. “Beginning today, volume server providers can confidently incorporate NetXen’s NX3031 Intelligent NIC solution, starting out with Gigabit Ethernet connectivity on their servers, and then transitioning to 10 Gigabit Ethernet when, how and as they need it, without burdening the cost of the base platform.”

Already established as the market leader and trusted provider to leading server OEMs, NetXen’s server-friendly FlexLOM technology launches a new era of 10 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity for volume 1U/2U servers and blade server platforms. NetXen’s patented third-generation Intelligent NIC delivers an unprecedented combination of technical and business advantages that include:

• A proven, robust and highly extensible solution built around the programmability of the Intelligent NIC architecture, allowing features to be added over time via firmware upgrades
• Breakthrough performance with the 2x bandwidth gains provided by PCIe 2.0
• Advanced energy efficiency through Dynamic Power Management™
• New levels of SLA enforcement for virtualized environments via NetXen’s Quality of Virtualization (QoV) features, including SR-IOV, NetQueue, rate limiting and bandwidth allocation control
• The industry’s first single chip solution supporting full offload of Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) that will continue to drive storage and network convergence
• The upgrade-readiness provided by FlexLOM

NetXen’s third-generation NX3031 Intelligent NIC family of server I/O solutions

NetXen is now shipping its third-generation NX3031 Intelligent NIC solution, which is the foundation for its new series of intelligent network adapters:

• NX3-20GxR: Dual-port 10GbE low-profile PCI Express 2.0 cards with pluggable SFP+ optical interconnect modules
• NX3-20GCU: Dual-port 10GbE low-profile PCI Express 2.0 card with direct attach twinax copper wiring for cost-effective in-rack connectivity
• NX3-4GBT: Low-profile PCI Express 2.0 card with four Gigabit Ethernet ports for maximum flexibility in mixed 1G/10G environments

Pricing and Availability

NetXen’s NX3031 Intelligent NIC 10 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity solutions are available now at port price parity with Gigabit Ethernet, providing the momentum to reduce street prices for 10 Gigabit Ethernet server I/O to less than $299 per port, a price point which industry analysts have signaled will fuel broad migration to 10 Gigabit Ethernet for server connectivity.