Intel I340 Ethernet Dual Port and Quad Port Server Adapters for System x
3
Intel I/O Acceleration Technology (Intel I/OAT) is a suite of features that improves data acceleration
across the platform, from networking devices to the chipset and processors, which helps to improve
system performance and application response times. The suite of features includes:
Intel QuickData Technology: Provides the Direct Memory Access (DMA) engine, which moves data
using the chipset instead of the CPU.
MSI-X: Minimizes the impact of I/O interrupts by load-balancing interrupts across multiple processor
cores.
Low-Latency Interrupts: Allows the adapter to bypass the automatic moderation of time intervals
between the interrupts (based on the sensitivity of the incoming data).
Receive Side Scaling (RSS): Directs the interrupts to a specific processor core based on the
application’s address.
Virtual Machine Device Queues (VMDq) reduces I/O impact on the Hypervisor in a virtualized server by
performing data sorting and coalescing in the network silicon. VMDq technology makes use of multiple
queues in the network controller. As data packets enter the network adapter, they are sorted, and packets
traveling to the same destination (or virtual machine) are grouped together in a single queue. The packets
are then sent to the Hypervisor, which directs them to their respective virtual machines. Relieving the
Hypervisor of packet filtering and sorting improves overall CPU usage and throughput levels.
The adapters have complete iSCSI support for proven native OS and VMM iSCSI initiators as well as
iSCSI boot. Historically, CRC32C computation has degraded system performance, but now with the CRC
instruction set included in the latest Intel Xeon processors, CRC validation is possible with minimal
impact to network throughput while delivering data integrity.
The adapters support the following IEEE standards:
IEEE 802.3ad (link aggregation control protocol)
IEEE 802.1Q VLANs
IEEE 1588 Precision Time Control Protocol
IEEE 802.3 2005 flow control support
IEEE 802.1p
Physical specifications
The Intel Ethernet Server Adapter cards have the following physical specifications:
Length: 140 mm (5.5 in)
Height: 70 mm (2.75 in)
Depth: 16 mm (0.62 in)
Maximum weight: 0.25 kg (0.5 lb)
