Mellanox announced its ConnectX 10 Gigabit Ethernet controllers have been selected for LAN on Motherboard (LOM) applications across Supermicro’s family of server products, eliminating the need for separate add-in I/O cards. Supermicro is a provider of performance and power optimized server boards, chassis, and rack and blade systems that target data center, high-performance computing, workstation, storage networks and standalone server environments. Mellanox’s ConnectX 10 Gigabit Ethernet controller is a single-chip solution that provides I/O performance, small footprint, and low power consumption making it ideal for Supermicro’s LOM requirements. In addition, ConnectX provides virtualization acceleration engines and integrated Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) support delivering valuable virtual machine scalability, I/O consolidation, and data center infrastructure future-proofing benefits.

“Our ConnectX 10 Gigabit Ethernet LOM design-win with Supermicro demonstrates that Mellanox is a broad-based interconnect silicon supplier delivering industry-leading performance, virtualization acceleration, and I/O consolidation features,” said Eyal Waldman, chairman, president and CEO of Mellanox Technologies. “With outstanding performance, power efficiency, integration and feature-set, ConnectX-enabled servers and storage systems are optimized for volume enterprise data center and high-performance computing market demands.”

Applications such as clustered databases, web infrastructure and virtualized solutions that utilize Supermicro servers with ConnectX deliver an enhanced user experience while reducing data center infrastructure power and complexity as compared to multiple, slower speed Gigabit Ethernet and Fibre Channel connections. In addition, as ConnectX provides 10 Gigabit Ethernet LOM connectivity, sourcing the I/O adapter is simplified for IT managers, easing volume deployment.

“Mellanox is a proven, high-performance I/O silicon supplier, so leveraging their 10 Gigabit Ethernet controllers in Supermicro server products with leading performance-per-watt capabilities provides our channels with enhanced I/O functionality at an exceptional value,” said Charles Liang, president and CEO of Super Micro Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMCI). “With the addition of ConnectX to our server lines, we are well-positioned to fulfill the growing market demand for 10 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity anticipated later this year and in 2009. ConnectX’s Virtual Protocol Interconnect™ support helps Supermicro flexibly address the demands for InfiniBand, Ethernet and Data Center Ethernet with the same hardware platforms.”