PRODUCT BRIEF

Intel® Ethernet Server

Adapter X520-DA1/X520-DA2

for Open Compute Project (OCP)

Network Connectivity

Adapter X520-DA1/X520-DA2

for Open Compute Project (OCP)

10 gigabit Ethernet server adapters provide ultimate flexibility and scalability for cloud deployments

system design thereby reducing complex-

ity and cost, allowing data centers to scale

out more effectively. By publishing the

designs and specifications of this low-

power, low-cost hardware, it can reduce

the cost of infrastructure for businesses

large and small.

Optimized for Multi-core

Processor Servers

Intel® Ethernet Flow Director

Today’s data centers depend on the mul-

tiprocessing, high performance capability

of servers to increase system throughput,

responsiveness, and reliability through

the introduction of additional hardware

threads, CPUs, or cores. But in a multi-

processing environment, it is essential to

ensure a coordinated affinity of protocol

processing and network applications

on the same target cores. This affinity

significantly reduces contention for shared

resources, minimizes software synchro-

nization overheads between cores, and

enhances cache efficiency.

Receive Side Scaling (RSS) resolves the

single-processor bottleneck by enabling

the receive side network load from a net-

work adapter to be shared across multiple

cores. RSS enables packet receive-pro-

cessing to scale with the number of avail-

able cores. However, RSS has a limitation.

it cannot steer an incoming network flow

to the same core where the application

process resides. RSS does not maintain the

Traffic Flow>Core (Application) relation-

ship. If an application is running on one

core, while RSS has scheduled receive

Overview

The best-selling Intel® Ethernet Converged

Network Adapter X520 Series is known

for its high performance, low latency,

reliability, and flexibility. The addition of

the Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter X520

Series for Open Compute Project (OCP) to

the family delivers the X520 capabilities

in an Open Compute Project (OCP) form

factor.

The Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter X520

Series for Open Compute Project (OCP)

delivers a proven, reliable solution for de-

ployments of Ethernet for high bandwidth,

low cost, 10GbE network connections.

Increased I/O performance with Intel®

Data Direct I/O Technology (Intel® DDIO)

and support for intelligent offloads make

this adapter a perfect match for scaling

performance on Intel® Xeon® processor E5/

E7 based servers.

Powered by the Intel® 82599 10 Gigabit

Ethernet Controller, the Intel® Ethernet

Server Adapter X520 Series for OCP

addresses the demanding needs of the

next-generation data center by providing

unmatched features for virtualization and

proven, reliable performance. The Intel®

82599 10 Gigabit Ethernet Controller is

the industry standard for 10 GbE, making

it the most popular 10GbE controller on

the market today.

The Open Compute Project (OCP) is a Face-

book* initiative to openly share custom

data center designs to improve both cost

and energy efficiency across the industry.

The OCP uses a minimalist approach to