10 Gigabit Performance at
the Low Cost of Copper
This 10 Gigabit AT2 Ethernet Server Adapter showcases
Intel’s second-generation standards-based 10GBASE-T adapter
in a low-profile PCI Express* form factor. It provides bandwidth-
intensive applications highly affordable 10 Gigabit Ethernet
(GbE) network performance with cost-effective RJ-45 con-
nections for distances up to 100 meters. High-speed server
connectivity — once reserved for costly, proprietary techno-
logies such as High Performance Computing (HPC) clusters
and grid-based computing — can now be achieved with the
standardized connectivity of the Intel® 10 Gigabit AT2 Server
Adapter. Intel’s adapter also provides 1000BASE-T support
for gigabit connections to legacy switches.
Next-Generation 10 Gigabit Performance
10 Gigabit Ethernet has moved past the early adoption stage
and is rapidly becoming mainstay for backbones within enterprise
and service provider networks. The escalating deployments
of servers with multi-core processors and demanding applica-
tions such as HPC, database clusters, and video on demand are
driving the need for 10 Gigabit connections. Based on the Intel®
82598EB 10 Gigabit Ethernet Controller, this next-generation
Intel 10 Gigabit AT2 Server Adapter is designed to meet the
throughput requirements of bandwidth-hungry applications.
Performance-Enhancing Features
for Multi-Core Environments
When implemented within multi-core processor environments,
the Intel 10 Gigabit AT2 Server Adapter offers advanced
networking features, Intel® I/O Acceleration Technology
(Intel® I/OAT), for efficient distribution of Ethernet work-
loads across CPU cores. Load balancing of interrupts using
MSI-X enables more efficient response times and application
performance. CPU utilization can be lowered further through
stateless offloads such as TCP segmentation offload, header
replications/splitting, and Direct Cache Access (DCA).
The Intel 10 Gigabit AT2 Server Adapter is optimized for virtual-
ized environments, supporting multiple queues, alleviating I/O
bottlenecks between virtual machines. Virtual Machine Device
Queue (VMDq) technology offloads data sorting and data copying
from the Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM) software layer to the
hardware, improving overall throughput and CPU utilization on
virtualized servers. Additionally, the Intel 10 Gigabit AT2 Server
Adapter enables Intel® QuickData Technology
1
for faster I/O
processing on Quad-Core and Dual-Core Intel® Xeon®
processor-based servers.
Conserve valuable PCI Express (PCIe*) server slots while adding
10 Gigabit Ethernet capability with the Intel 10 Gigabit AT2
Server Adapter. The dedicated input/output (I/O) bandwidth
of PCIe ensures priority performance on each port — without
bus sharing — for 10 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity, as well as a
low-profile design, which improves server throughput and rack
density at the same time. In addition, eight-lane PCIe enables
maximum bandwidth for fast and efficient data transfer.
Product Brief
Intel® 10 Gigabit AT2 Server Adapter
Network Connectivity
Intel
®
10 Gigabit AT2 Server Adapter
10 Gigabit BASE-T Ethernet Server Adapters Designed for
Multi-Core Processors and Optimized for Virtualization
