4
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The ATTO Technology FastFrame NS™ and ThunderLink™ 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) network adapters are an ideal complement to
media and entertainment workflows featuring the EMC Isilon family of Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices. EMC Isilon scale-
out NAS is easily deployed into existing media and entertainment workflows utilizing standard file-sharing protocols over existing
1 GbE and 10 GbE network infrastructure. The ATTO FastFrame Ethernet network adapter provides high-performance 10 GbE
connectivity for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux clients using standard file-sharing protocols.
Broadcasters, motion picture studios, and media professionals world-wide trust EMC Isilon to provide the storage foundation for their
media workflows. The Isilon X-series hardware platforms are the building blocks of a single scale-out NAS volume. EMC Isilon
customers leverage the power of a single OneFS volume to consolidate the storage requirements for editing, media asset
management, transcoding, and other workflows. A single EMC Isilon OneFS volume eliminates the need for costly silos of
proprietary, application-specific storage at each stage of the workflow. EMC Isilon clients use open protocols such as SMB, NFS, FTP,
and HTTP to access a OneFS volume, eliminating the need for costly per-client file-system licenses.
Media and entertainment workflows require flexible tools that protect your storage investment. EMC and ATTO Technology provide
flexible tools based on open protocols. A workflow based on open network file-sharing protocols and the effortless scalability of EMC
Isilon OneFS allows media and entertainment professionals to rapidly adapt to changing production requirements, ever-increasing
content storage requirements, and increasing complicated workflows. EMC Isilon easily adapts to your needs, without introducing
costly down-time to your tight production schedules.
SOLUTION OVERVIEW
The ATTO Technology FastFrame NS 10 GbE adapter is your gateway to high-performance EMC Isilon media storage. Properly tuned
10 GbE networks allow EMC Isilon users the ease of use of a shared network volume and throughput previously restricted to a
complicated Fibre Channel Storage Area Network (SAN). When combined with a low-latency 10 GbE switch such as the Arista 7050
series and EMC Isilon scale-out NAS, the ATTO Technology 10 GbE network adapters provides reliable performance for some of the
most demanding media and entertainment workflows.
The ATTO Technology FastFrame NS is a PCIe 2.0 compliant network interface card optimized for the high-performance access to
media storage workflows on a local area network. ATTO’s proprietary Advanced Data Streaming (ADS™) technology manages
network latency to provide high-performance media file transfers and reliable playback of streaming media.
The ATTO Technology ThunderLink NS interface builds on the success of the FastFrame network adapter by providing an external,
Thunderbolt 2 enabled interface for clients lacking PCIe expansion slots.
GUIDELINES
Client Configuration
For best performance, install the ATTO Technology FastFrame NS 10 GbE network adapter in a PCIe 2.0 slot that is electrically wired
for an 8x lane width or greater. Please consult your server or workstation documentation for additional information regarding the
host computer PCI slot configuration. The table below demonstrates the bandwidth limitations of PCIe 1.0 versus 2.0 at varying lane
widths.
Table 1
PCIe Bandwidth
LANES BANDWIDTH PER DIRECTION PCIE 1.0 BANDWIDTH PER DIRECTION PCIE 2.0
1
250 MB/s
500 MB/s
2
500 MB/s
1 GB/s
4
1 GB/s
2 GB/s
8
2 GB/s
4 GB/s
The ATTO ThunderLink should be connected to a Thunderbolt 2 enabled port. For best performance when connecting the
ThunderLink adapter to a Mac Pro, ensure that the device is connected to a Thunderbolt port that is not sharing a bus with another
