Chiasso, Switzerland. 25 November 2009 -Allied Telesis has launched the AT-2973SX and AT-2973T virtualization Network Interface Cards (NICs) for servers running virtual machines. The AT-2973SX is a dual-port, fiber, 1000SX Gigabit PCIe four lane virtualization Network Interface Card, while the AT-2973T is a dual-port 1000T Gigabit PCIe four lane virtualization Network Interface Card. The AT-2973 products cater for the industry trend towards virtual machines.

The operating system needed to perform as a virtual machine is complex, and whilst chipsets have been enhanced in recent years, it is still a significant task to create a true virtual machine. Queuing is a common issue with virtual machines, reducing performance as the host CPU performs the task of assembling/disassembling the incoming messages in the single queue and sending them to the correct virtual machine. The AT-2973 allows each virtual machine to establish its own network queue, thus increasing throughput.

The AT-2973 is MSI-x (Message Signal Interrupt) capable, which allows it to control multiple network queues, one for each virtual machine. This is part of the latest PCIe standard and it allows the AT-2973 to collect data for transmission (or drop received data) into separate memory areas in the host computer. Each memory area is part of the virtual machine. The AT-2973 is also PCI-Express v2.0 compliant, allowing the PCIe bus connecting the card to the computer motherboard to move data at up to twice the capacity of the earlier v1.0 bus. The v2.0 bus allows up to 500Mbps per lane, as the AT-2973 is a four lane device it can achieve up to 2Gbps.

To further speed up the communications process, the AT-2973 processes the data directly from the application buffers on the host computer, relieving the host CPU from the time consuming task of moving data from the buffers to the communications engine. As customers are virtualizing their computers, they may also be using the computers as part of a storage solution. The AT-2973 supports iSCSI v1.0 and can be a iSER Host Bus Adaptor (HBA) for initiator or target, allowing it to be the main computer (initiator) or the storage device (target).

“Gigabit is still common as a server interface due to the high costs of 10G,” said Melvyn Wray, Senior VP of Product Marketing EMEA at Allied Telesis. “For many customers, it is better to have a larger number of smaller, lower cost machines, instead of a smaller number of larger machines with 10G interfaces. However, with CPU performance doubling every 18 months, it does make sense to have multiple Ethernet interfaces and virtualization on single machines. It is this scenario that the AT-2973SX and AT-2973T products play into.”

The AT-2973SX and AT-2973T are available from Allied Telesis now priced at $299 for the AT-2973T and $699 for the AT-2973SX.

For more than 20 years, Allied Telesis has been a leading provider of networking infrastructure. Today the Company enables delivery of data, voice, and video services to a variety of clients globally. Allied Telesis is committed to innovating the way in which services and applications are delivered and managed, resulting in increased value and lower operating costs. Visit us online at: www.alliedtelesis.com

 

EML
Phone: +44 (0)20 8408 8000
allied@eml.com