Summary - Compaq BL10e - HP ProLiant - 512 MB RAM Introduction Manual

Flex-10 allows the traffic of four FlexNICs to share the same high performance 10GbE port on the
signal midplane yet keep the data entirely separated. A special VLAN tag is attached to the packet
being sent and that tag gets stripped off at the destination. Packets that have been tagged and
isolated by VC and the FlexNICs then move from the Flex-10 device (LOM or mezzanine card) to the
Flex-10 VC Enet module on a single pathway. This pathway is enabled by implementing the
10GBASE-KR (IEEE specification 802.3ap) one-lane, serial backplane connection standard. All of this
happens within the confines of the BladeSystem enclosure and is completely transparent to all external
network equipment. It is done automatically in hardware, so that performance and security are
unaffected. If two modules are used in a side by side configuration, this capability can provide
redundant access to every FlexNIC on the server.

Summary

Businesses are embracing 10GbE architectures in data centers and other business critical
environments. The adoption of 10GbE comes in response to ever-increasing demands for better
performance, server consolidation and virtualization, and the emergence of standards for a
converged network fabric.
The HP family of 10GbE products – which includes intelligent, multifunction network adapters,
mezzanine cards, Virtual Connect interconnect modules and network switches – continues to grow
and serve the expanding 10GbE market. HP is introducing intelligent, dynamic technologies like Flex-
10 for Virtual Connect to maximize 10GbE connections and facilitate customer transition to 10GbE
technology.
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