UCSC-PCIE-C100-04 Cisco Dual-Ports 100GBPS Converged Network Adapter

Overview of Cisco UCSC-PCIE-C100-04 Dual-Port Adapter

The Cisco UCSC-PCIE-C100-04 Dual-Port 100Gbps Converged Network Adapter is a high-performance enterprise networking solution designed for next-generation data centers, virtualization platforms, and cloud-scale infrastructures. Engineered, a global leader in networking technology, this adapter delivers ultra-low latency, massive bandwidth capacity, and flexible connectivity options for demanding workloads.

General Information

• Manufacturer: Cisco
• Part Number: UCSC-PCIE-C100-04
• Product Type: Converged Network Adapter (CNA)
• Interface Class: High-speed PCIe-based networking card

Technical Specification

• Interface: PCI Express 3.0 x16
• Ports: Dual 100Gbps Ethernet ports
• Connector Type: QSFP slots
• Supported Speeds: 40GBASE-X and 100GBASE-X
• Design: Converged Network Adapter (CNA)

Performance Advantages of PCIe 3.0 x16

• High-speed data transfer for enterprise workloads
• Reduced latency for real-time applications
• Efficient scaling in multi-node server environments
• Optimized throughput for virtualization clusters

Benefits of Dual-Port

• Increased aggregate network throughput
• Load balancing across multiple data paths
• High availability through failover support
• Improved redundancy for critical systems

Supported Optical Standards

• 40G Ethernet (40GBASE-X)
• 100G Ethernet (100GBASE-X)
• Modular QSFP transceiver support
• Multi-mode and single-mode fiber compatibility

Flexibility Advantages

• Easy transceiver upgrades
• Cost-efficient infrastructure scaling
• Support for diverse data center topologies
• Reduced operational complexity

Ideal Workload Scenarios

• Virtual machine clustering and hypervisors
• High-performance computing (HPC) environments
• Cloud service infrastructure
• Big data analytics platforms

Performance Benefits

• Reduced network congestion
• Improved application responsiveness
• Efficient data packet handling
• Enhanced server-to-server communication

Integration Features

• Native support for Cisco UCS systems
• Compatibility with standard PCIe server slots
• Driver and firmware optimization for enterprise OS
• Interoperability with modern network infrastructures

Reliability Enhancements

• Failover-ready dual-port design
• Enterprise-grade thermal and power management
• Stable performance under continuous workloads
• Redundant path networking support

Cisco UCSC-PCIE-C100-04 Dual-Port 100Gbps Converged Adapter

The Cisco UCSC-PCIE-C100-04 Dual-Port 100Gbps Converged Network Adapter is engineered for high-performance enterprise data center environments that require ultra-low latency, high bandwidth throughput, and seamless convergence of networking and storage traffic. Designed for Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) infrastructures, this advanced converged network adapter (CNA) integrates next-generation 100 Gigabit Ethernet capabilities with enhanced virtualization support, enabling modern workloads such as cloud computing, high-performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and large-scale virtualization platforms.

This category of dual-port 100Gbps converged adapters is optimized for organizations seeking to eliminate network bottlenecks while consolidating multiple I/O functions into a single hardware interface. By combining traditional Ethernet networking with Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) and advanced RDMA capabilities, the adapter significantly improves server efficiency and reduces hardware complexity in enterprise environments.

High-Speed Dual-Port 100Gbps Architecture Design

The Cisco UCSC-PCIE-C100-04 adapter is built on a robust high-speed architecture that supports dual 100Gbps ports, enabling simultaneous bi-directional data transmission at extreme speeds. This architecture is particularly suited for dense virtualization clusters and hyperscale data centers where network throughput is a critical performance factor.

Advanced PCI Express Integration

The adapter utilizes a high-bandwidth PCI Express interface designed to eliminate internal data bottlenecks between the server motherboard and the network interface. This ensures that high-volume traffic such as database replication, distributed computing tasks, and real-time analytics flows efficiently without packet loss or congestion.

Low-Latency Packet Processing Engine

The integrated packet processing engine optimizes network traffic handling by offloading compute-intensive tasks from the CPU. This reduces latency and improves overall system responsiveness, particularly in environments where microsecond-level delays can impact application performance.

Hardware Offload Capabilities

The hardware offload engine supports checksum calculations, segmentation offload, and virtualization acceleration. These capabilities ensure that server processors are reserved for application workloads rather than networking overhead, improving compute efficiency across the infrastructure.

Converged Networking Capabilities

The Cisco UCSC-PCIE-C100-04 is a true converged network adapter, meaning it supports multiple traffic types over a unified interface. This convergence simplifies infrastructure design while reducing the need for separate adapters for storage and network traffic.

Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) Support

FCoE functionality allows storage traffic to be transported over Ethernet networks, eliminating the need for traditional Fibre Channel hardware. This convergence reduces capital expenditure while maintaining high-performance storage connectivity for enterprise storage area networks (SANs).

Unified Storage and Data Networking

By integrating storage and data networking, the adapter reduces complexity in data center design. Organizations benefit from fewer physical components, lower power consumption, and simplified cable management while maintaining high-performance connectivity.

Storage Traffic Optimization

The adapter prioritizes storage traffic to ensure consistent performance for mission-critical workloads such as database clusters, virtual machine storage access, and real-time backup operations.

Virtualization and Cloud Optimization

Modern data centers rely heavily on virtualization technologies, and the Cisco UCSC-PCIE-C100-04 is optimized to support dense virtual machine environments. It delivers enhanced performance for hypervisors such as VMware ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V, and KVM-based systems.

Virtual Machine Density Enhancement

The adapter improves virtual machine density by offloading network processing tasks, allowing servers to host more virtual machines per physical host without compromising performance. This is particularly beneficial in cloud service provider environments and private cloud infrastructures.

SR-IOV Support

Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) support enables virtual machines to directly access physical network resources, reducing latency and improving throughput for virtualized workloads.

Virtual Network Function Acceleration

Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) such as firewalls, load balancers, and routers benefit from hardware acceleration provided by the adapter, enabling more efficient network service deployment in software-defined networking environments.

High-Performance Data Center Applications

The Cisco UCSC-PCIE-C100-04 is designed for demanding data center workloads that require sustained high throughput and low latency connectivity. These include big data analytics, artificial intelligence training clusters, and real-time financial transaction systems.

Big Data and Analytics Workloads

In big data environments, large datasets are transferred across distributed systems for processing and analysis. The dual 100Gbps ports ensure that data movement does not become a performance bottleneck, enabling faster insights and improved processing efficiency.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

AI and ML workloads require massive data ingestion and distributed computing performance. The adapter supports these requirements by providing high-bandwidth connectivity between GPU clusters, storage systems, and compute nodes.

High-Speed Dataset Transfer

Training datasets used in AI models can span terabytes or even petabytes. The adapter ensures these datasets are delivered quickly to compute nodes, reducing training time and improving iterative development cycles.

Low Latency and High Throughput Performance

Latency-sensitive applications such as high-frequency trading, real-time analytics, and telecommunications require extremely fast data transmission. The Cisco UCSC-PCIE-C100-04 minimizes latency through optimized hardware architecture and efficient packet processing.

Microsecond-Level Latency Optimization

The adapter is designed to achieve microsecond-level latency performance, ensuring that data packets are transmitted and received with minimal delay. This is critical in environments where timing precision directly impacts business outcomes.

Bandwidth Aggregation Efficiency

With dual-port 100Gbps capability, the adapter supports aggregated bandwidth performance of up to 200Gbps in compatible configurations, enabling extremely high-volume data transfer operations.

Enterprise Storage Networking Integration

The Cisco UCSC-PCIE-C100-04 plays a crucial role in enterprise storage environments by supporting advanced storage networking protocols and high-speed connectivity between servers and storage arrays.

iSCSI and FCoE Acceleration

iSCSI and Fibre Channel over Ethernet traffic are accelerated through hardware offload engines, improving storage access times and reducing CPU utilization on host systems.

Distributed Storage Systems

Modern distributed storage architectures such as software-defined storage platforms benefit from the adapter’s high throughput capabilities, ensuring consistent performance across clustered storage nodes.

High Availability Storage Connectivity

Dual-port redundancy enhances storage network reliability by providing failover capabilities in the event of link failure or network congestion.

Compatibility and System Integration

The Cisco UCSC-PCIE-C100-04 is designed for seamless integration into Cisco UCS environments as well as other enterprise server platforms that support high-speed PCIe networking adapters.

Server Platform Compatibility

The adapter is compatible with a wide range of enterprise servers optimized for virtualization, cloud computing, and high-performance workloads. It integrates smoothly with rack-mounted and blade server architectures.

Operating System Support

Support extends across major enterprise operating systems including Linux distributions, Windows Server environments, and virtualization hypervisors, ensuring broad deployment flexibility.

Security and Data Protection Features

Security is a critical aspect of modern network infrastructure, and the Cisco UCSC-PCIE-C100-04 incorporates multiple layers of protection to safeguard data in transit.

Hardware-Based Security Acceleration

Encryption and decryption processes are accelerated through hardware offload mechanisms, ensuring secure data transmission without compromising performance.

Secure Network Segmentation

The adapter supports secure segmentation of network traffic, allowing organizations to isolate workloads and enforce strict security policies across virtualized environments.

Power Efficiency and Thermal Management

Despite its high-performance capabilities, the Cisco UCSC-PCIE-C100-04 is engineered for energy efficiency. Advanced power management features dynamically adjust power consumption based on workload demand.

Dynamic Power Scaling

The adapter reduces power usage during low traffic periods and scales performance dynamically when demand increases, optimizing overall data center energy consumption.

Thermal Optimization Design

Efficient thermal dissipation ensures stable operation even under sustained high-load conditions, reducing the risk of overheating and performance throttling.

Deployment Scenarios and Enterprise Use Cases

The Cisco UCSC-PCIE-C100-04 is widely deployed in enterprise environments where high-speed connectivity is essential for operational efficiency and scalability.

Cloud Service Provider Infrastructure

Cloud providers utilize the adapter to support multi-tenant environments with high network throughput requirements and isolated virtual network segments.

Financial Services and Trading Systems

Financial institutions rely on ultra-low latency networking for transaction processing, risk analysis, and algorithmic trading systems.

High-Performance Computing Clusters

HPC environments use the adapter to connect compute nodes with high-speed interconnects for scientific simulations, engineering modeling, and research applications.

Network Optimization and Traffic Engineering

The Cisco UCSC-PCIE-C100-04 supports advanced network optimization features that enhance traffic engineering and workload distribution across data center networks.

Quality of Service (QoS) Management

QoS capabilities allow prioritization of critical workloads, ensuring that essential applications receive guaranteed bandwidth and reduced latency.

Adaptive Traffic Control

Dynamic traffic control mechanisms adjust packet flow based on network conditions, preventing congestion and maintaining stable performance under heavy load.