NVIDIA Enterprise-Class Networking

Today’s PC users demand excellent overall system performance and a lot more. The ability to get the job done often involves accessing a network: network-based applications, sending/receiving e-mail and files, streaming media, and handling large and complex data sets over a network are commonplace tasks. While CPU and graphics processing unit (GPU) speeds and system capacities advance at an aggressive pace, the basic PC architecture evolves more slowly, and critical subsystems for interfacing to the outside world and handling data can often limit the overall PC experience. The NVIDIA nForce™3 Professional platform processors solve this problem by delivering advanced core technologies and industry-leading performance for today’s PC users.

The newest NVIDIA nForce3 Pro series includes the NVIDIA networking technology. The company’s proven expertise with streamlining core system functionality has yielded a strong suite of built-in commercial-grade networking solutions spanning hardware, drivers, and user interface functionality. The full-featured NVIDIA networking solution includes capabilities that address:

• Advanced access: The NVIDIA nForce3 Pro provides high-speed Ethernet technology.
• Management: Monitoring critical system events and delivering early-warning alerts ensures that network managers are notified before problems escalate and impact critical applications and users.
• Security: Built-in, streamlined functionality enabling the protection of systems from unauthorized access benefits every user on the network.

Optimized to take advantage of today’s PC architectures, the integrated NVIDIA enterprise-class networking solution offloads many compute-intensive networking operations from the CPU, contributing to increased overall system performance.

NVIDIA nForce3 Pro delivers field-proven third-generation NVIDIA Media Access Control (MAC) technology. This commercial-grade solution gives system designers an industry-standard Media Independent Interface (MII) or Reduced Gigabit MII (RGMII) for 10/100BASE-T Fast Ethernet. Adherence to the industry standards means that system designers can interface the NVIDIA solution to Ethernet PHYs from a variety of vendors. The integrated Ethernet solution ensures an optimized design with appropriate hooks into all of the system hardware and NVIDIA software. Compared to external Ethernet offerings, the NVIDIA solution ensures that future upgrades and enhancements incorporate changes to the appropriate part of the complete data path. The NVIDIA implementation of task offloads incorporates support for the latest Internet Protocol (IP) specification, IPv6. This forward-looking design ensures a forward-compatible system and offers system designers investment protection as the standards evolve.

Benefits to the User and Network Manager
The NVIDIA nForce3 Pro networking solution offers:

• Configuration flexibility: through the auto-negotiation plus feature.
• Flow control: Transfer speed is adjusted depending on network conditions.
• Traffic prioritization: Data transmission is optimized through intelligent networks.
• Power management: Complies with the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) 2.0 standard. Remote wake-up: Network managers can access systems even if they have been put to sleep or shut down. (Full functionality of this capability requires OS support.)
• Network boot: Implementation of the Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) standard allows network managers to remotely set up new systems, perform pre-OS system management, and remotely boot over the network.
• Network management: A full suite of interfaces—command line interface (CLI), Web browser interface, and WMI scripts—gives network managers an option that fits into their environment.
• Advanced security features: Personal firewall technology protects systems from internal security breaches. Anti-hacker features prevent practices such as IP spoofing.

The NVIDIA nForce3 Pro advanced networking technology gives both network managers and workstation users the benefits of in-depth NVIDIA experience for optimizing critical core functionality. With built-in solutions for today’s fastest Ethernet access methods, the NVIDIA nForce3 Pro platform processors ensure that systems can survive and thrive in today’s fast evolving networked environments. Management functionality has been built into the NVIDIA solution, making it possible to effectively monitor and catch system problems before they escalate. The NVIDIA solution also incorporates high-performance technologies for security features, introducing a desktop level of protection that augments other corporate security measures and makes in-home and corporate systems safer from unauthorized access.