Intel has unveiled a dual-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet adapter. Intel worked hard on implementing the highest level of energy efficiency in order to put together an adapter with two distinct 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports. The X520-T2 will give administrators the ability to use any of the two ports as a redundant connection in case the other should fail. This capability, however, is but a part of the product's functionality.

The X520-T2 10 Gigbit Ethernet adapter is an efficient solution that uses cost-effective RJ-45 connections that can operate over distances of up to 100 meters. While the high data transfers, scalability and flexibility of 10 Gigabit performance are noteworthy in themselves, the adapter also boasts performance-enhancing features for multi-core environments, such as the Intel I/O Acceleration Technology, which allows for the efficient distribution of Ethernet workloads across the different CPU cores.

In addition, MSI-X will improve the application response by minimizing the overhead interrupts. CPU utilization can also be reduced through the use of stateless offloads, such as the TCP segmentation offload, header replications/splitting and Direct Cache Access (DCA).

Besides the adapter's capability of using a port as a redundant connection in case of failure, there is another special feature that can be taken advantage of. The X520-T2 can actually combine both ports into a single pipeline running at a 20GbE speed. Another