Users Guide

1 BC0054508-00 M
1 Functionality and Features
This chapter covers the following for the adapters:
 Functional Description
 “Features” on page 2
 “Supported Operating Environments” on page 6
 “Network Link and Activity Indication” on page 6
Functional Description
The Marvell BCM57xx and BCM57xxx adapter is a new class of gigabit Ethernet
(GbE) and 10GbE converged network interface controller (C-NIC) that can
simultaneously perform accelerated data networking and storage networking on a
standard Ethernet network. The C-NIC offers acceleration for popular protocols
used in the data center, such as:
 TCP offload engine (TOE) for accelerating TCP over 1GbE and 10GbE (on
Windows Server OSs that support TOE)
 Internet small computer systems interface (iSCSI) offload for accelerating
network storage access featuring centralized boot functionality (iSCSI boot)
 Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) offload and acceleration for Fibre
Channel block storage
Enterprise networks that use multiple protocols and multiple network fabrics
benefit from the C-NICs ability to combine data communications, storage, and
clustering over a single Ethernet fabric by boosting server CPU processing
performance and memory utilization while alleviating I/O bottlenecks.
NOTE
Not all adapters support each listed protocol. Refer to the specific
product data sheet for protocol support.