Marvell Fastlinq Ethernet Adapters

Universal RDMA

Marvell Introduces FastLinQ® 41000 Family 10/25/40/50GbE NICs with Universal RDMA

Marvell Technology | FastLinq Ethernet NICs Universal RDMA

Universal RDMA

Remote direct-memory access(RDMA) is a technology that has been in use for more than a decade. In server connectivity, data copying is a major source of processing overhead. In a conventional networking stack, received packets are stored in the operating system’s memory and later copied to application memory. This copying consumes CPU cycles and also introduces latency. Network adapters that implement RDMA enable writing data directly into application memory. Applications that transfer large blocks of data, such as networked storage and virtual machine migration, reap the greatest efficiency gains from RDMA.

Because the network adapter (NIC) needs to know where to place data in memory, the network protocol must explicitly support RDMA. The first such protocol to achieve widespread adoption was InfiniBand, which was designed around RDMA from the beginning. The techniques developed for InfiniBand were later adapted to Ethernet networks using new RDMA protocols—first iWARP and later RoCE.

Marvell® is one of the leaders driving the RDMA ecosystem with the goal of extending the reach RDMA technologies beyond the server and across the network to access remote storage. Marvell FastLinQ Series 10/25/40/50/100GbE adapters support Universal RDMA (RoCE, RoCEv2 and iWARP) and deliver the ultimate choice to customers.

 

Benefits of Universal RDMA

With its FastLinQ® 41000/45000 NICs, Marvell has taken the unique approach of handling both RoCE and iWARP. By delivering a protocol-agnostic design, Marvell FastLinQ technology delivers the following benefits:

  • Future Proof Connectivity:
    FastLinQ Universal RDMA enabled NICs offer customers a future-proof path to implementing RDMA. If, over the longer term, the RoCE or iWARP camp gains greater market adoption, the customer is protected from NIC obsolescence. In addition, our support of 100G Ethernet gives customers a guaranteed roadmap to higher performance as it is required.
  • No vendor lock-in:
    By selecting FastLinQ NICs, customers also avoid vendor lock-in, as these NICs interoperate with those from all other vendors offering RoCE or iWARP. If a customer ultimately decides to change from iWARP to RoCE or vice versa, those systems already deployed using FastLinQ need not be requalified.
  • Front and backend Storage Connectivity:
    For storage systems, FastLinQ NICs can be mixed and matched between front-end and back-end networks, maximizing reuse and minimizing spares. For example, a customer can use a 25GbE NIC initially for a back-end connection and later reuse that NIC for a front-end link when the back end is upgraded to 50GbE or 100GbE.

Product Comparison Charts

PRODUCT RDMA SUPPORT
QL45000 Series 10/25/40/50/100GbE NICs Universal RDMA RoCE, RoCEv2, iWARP*
QL41000 Series 10/25/40/50GbE NICs Universal RDMA RoCE, RoCEv2, iWARP

Documentation

Universal RDMA - A unique approach for Datacenter Acceleration

Universal RDMA - A unique approach for Datacenter Acceleration

Analyst Report: Game changing RDMA Technology accelerates Hyper-Converged Infrastructure

Looking for better utilization of your All-Flash NVMe investments? Thinking about 10GbE? Heard of RDMA – RoCE or iWARP? Don’t miss the comprehensive Demartek Report on 10Gbps Ethernet NICs for the All-Flash NVMe Datacenter!

READ THE REPORT

Analyst Report: Accelerate Storage Spaces Direct with 25GbE

FastLinQ Universal RDMA Technology removes bottlenecks! Don’t miss the comprehensive analysis of different RDMA technologies and the value of 25GbE over 10GbE networks!

READ THE REPORT