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June 25, 2019

Marvell Powers HPE Servers with Next-Generation Ethernet Technology

By Todd Owens, Field Marketing Director, Marvell

Data is the new currency for many businesses today.  The ability to access, analyze and act on data has become a competitive advantage for many companies.  While much attention is paid to the storage devices and compute required to optimize data processing, the I/O infrastructure is often overlooked.  The reality is that I/O technologies are just as important as the core count of the CPU or storage capacity and latency of the storage array.  The time is now to future-proof your network and that’s where Marvell is here to help. 

Marvell has been a long-time Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) supplier of I/O technology used in the HPE ProLiant, Apollo, HPE Synergy, and HPE Storage offerings.  Over the past year, a new generation of Ethernet I/O has begun making its way into these HPE platforms.  Based on Marvell® FastLinQ® QL41000 and QL45000 Ethernet technology, these new adapters are allowing HPE customers to “future-proof their network” connectivity for what’s to come in the near future of data centers. 

The QL41000 and QL45000 adapter technology provides several new capabilities not found in other I/O offerings for HPE.  Advancements include:

  • Universal RDMA – provides customers with flexibility through concurrent support for both RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE) and iWARP RDMA protocols on the same adapter.
  • SmartAN™ Technology – enables auto-negotiation for transitioning from 10GbE to 25GbE connections. SmartAN automatically configures the adapter for bandwidth and error code correction based on the cabling configuration and switch port settings the adapter is connected to.
  • Storage Offload – Converge Network Adapter offerings include full hardware offload for iSCSI and FCoE protocols which greatly reduces the CPU resources required for transmitting storage traffic compared to the use of software initiators.

  do more with marvell FastLinQ Ethernet These are in addition to enhanced DPDK performance (up to 36Mpps bi-directional) and support for SR-IOV, TCP/IP stateless offloads, IEEE 1588 time stamping and more.

The FastLinQ 41000 series technology can be found in next-generation Flexible LOM Rack (FLR) and standup PCIe adapters for HPE ProLiant and Apollo servers. Models include:

  • HPE Ethernet 10Gb 521-T Adapter
  • HPE Ethernet 10Gb 524SFP+ Adapters
  • HPE Ethernet 10/25Gb 621SFP28 Adapter
  • HPE Ethernet 10/25Gb 622FLR CNA
  • HPE StoreFabric 10Gb CN1200-T CNA
  • HPE StoreFabric 10/25Gb CN1300R CNA

marvell powers HPE servers with next generation ethernet technology 1 

These adapters allow HPE Server customers to future-proof their Rack and Tower servers with RDMA for use in Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI) and Software Defined Storage (SDS) solutions; and make the transition from 10GbE to 25GbE connectivity seamless at the server.  These I/O devices are ideal for customers considering Microsoft Azure Stack HCI or VMware vSAN environments, or the deployment of any latency sensitive application. 

The FastLinQ 45000 series technology can be found in next-generation mezzanine adapters for HPE Synergy, including:

  • HPE Synergy 10/20/25Gb 4820C Adapter
  • HPE Synergy 25/50GbE 6810C Adapter

marvell powers HPE servers with next generation ethernet technology 2

With Universal RDMA support improved DPDK performance and high-bandwidth capability, these adapters are ideal for customers with VMware ESXi or Microsoft Hyper-V deployments, and for Telco or high-frequency trading applications. 

Since many applications today will start to require more I/O performance and low latency RDMA, HPE’s next-gen Ethernet adapters will go a long way in future proofing networking connectivity for server customers. 

For a complete list of Marvell FastLinQ Ethernet adapters for HPE Servers and the features they support, download our HPE FastLinQ Ethernet Quick Reference guide.  If you would like to discuss I/O technology or customer needs in more detail, contact our HPE team .  You can also visit the Marvell HPE microsite at www.marvell.com/hpe.

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