SFNX2542 Solarflare Dual-Port 100GBE QSFP28 PCIe 3.1 XtremeScale Server Adapter

Solarflare SFNX2542 Dual-Port 100GBE Adapter

The Solarflare SFNX2542 is a high-performance dual-port 100 Gigabit Ethernet (100GBE) server adapter designed for modern data centers, cloud computing environments, and enterprise networks. Built on the PCI Express 3.1 interface, this XtremeScale adapter ensures ultra-low latency, high throughput, and exceptional reliability for mission-critical applications. It is a preferred choice for organizations seeking advanced networking solutions that optimize server efficiency while supporting the most demanding workloads.

Dual QSFP28 Ports for High-Speed Connectivity

The SFNX2542 is equipped with two QSFP28 ports, providing 100 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity per port. This dual-port configuration allows network administrators to implement redundant connections, load balancing, and link aggregation for improved bandwidth utilization. QSFP28 interfaces are widely supported in modern high-speed switches and routers, ensuring seamless integration into existing infrastructures.

Redundancy and Failover Capabilities

With dual ports, the adapter supports high availability and failover setups, allowing uninterrupted data transfer in case of network path failures. Redundant connections reduce the risk of downtime and maintain consistent server performance in enterprise environments.

PCI Express 3.1 Interface for High-Performance Data Transfer

The adapter leverages PCIe 3.1 x16 lanes, providing a high-speed interface for rapid data transfer between the server and the network. The PCIe 3.1 standard ensures that the SFNX2542 can fully utilize the 100GBE bandwidth, eliminating bottlenecks that may arise with older interfaces.

Optimized for Low Latency Applications

High-frequency trading, financial analytics, and real-time AI applications require minimal latency. The SFNX2542's PCIe 3.1 interface, combined with its XtremeScale architecture, provides microsecond-level latency, ensuring rapid data processing and efficient server-to-server communication.

XtremeScale Architecture and Advanced Networking Features

The SFNX2542 is built on Solarflare's XtremeScale architecture, which offers advanced features such as offloading, virtualization support, and network acceleration. This architecture improves server efficiency by reducing CPU utilization for network processing tasks.

Network Offload Capabilities

With technologies such as TCP/UDP/IP stateless offload, large send/receive offload, and checksum offload, the SFNX2542 frees up server CPU resources, allowing higher performance for compute-intensive workloads. Offloading is critical for applications such as high-performance computing (HPC), database transactions, and cloud services.

Support for SR-IOV and Virtualization

The SFNX2542 provides full support for Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV), enabling multiple virtual machines to share a single physical adapter efficiently. SR-IOV allows high-speed virtual network interfaces with minimal overhead, making it ideal for large-scale virtualized environments, including VMware, Hyper-V, and KVM deployments.

Packet Filtering and Traffic Steering

Advanced flow steering and hardware-based packet filtering ensure optimal distribution of network traffic across CPU cores. By leveraging Flow Director and hardware queues, the SFNX2542 significantly reduces latency and jitter, delivering predictable network performance for latency-sensitive applications.

Throughput and Bandwidth

Each QSFP28 port provides a maximum throughput of 100 Gbps, offering a combined 200 Gbps when both ports are utilized. The high bandwidth capacity supports large-scale data transfers, high-speed storage networks, and demanding cloud workloads.

Efficient Multicast and Broadcast Handling

The adapter efficiently manages multicast and broadcast traffic, ensuring high throughput even in complex network topologies. This is particularly useful for HPC clusters, video streaming, and distributed computing applications. The SFNX2542 is engineered for ultra-low latency, with typical one-way latency measured in microseconds. This makes it suitable for high-frequency trading, real-time analytics, and other latency-critical applications.

Reliability and Robustness

The SFNX2542 is designed for 24/7 operation in demanding data center environments. It undergoes rigorous testing for thermal stability, error resilience, and long-term reliability, ensuring minimal downtime and consistent performance. The adapter implements advanced error detection mechanisms, including ECC memory and CRC error checking, to maintain data integrity during high-speed transmissions. These features help prevent network errors from affecting critical workloads.

Thermal and Power Efficiency

Despite its high performance, the SFNX2542 maintains efficient power consumption and thermal management. Low-power operation reduces cooling requirements, lowers operational costs, and contributes to environmentally sustainable data center operations.

Financial Services and High-Frequency Trading

Financial institutions require the fastest possible network performance to execute trades in microseconds. The SFNX2542, with hardware timestamping and low-latency features, ensures traders can process market data and execute transactions faster than competitors.

Enterprise Storage Networking

The adapter is fully compatible with modern storage protocols such as iSCSI, NVMe over Fabrics, and RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE). High throughput and low latency improve storage access performance, making it ideal for SAN and NAS environments.

Server Form Factors and Hardware Platforms

Designed to fit standard PCIe x16 slots, the adapter is compatible with most modern rackmount and blade servers. Its low-profile bracket option allows deployment in dense server configurations, maximizing data center space efficiency..

Management Capabilities

Network administrators can manage the SFNX2542 remotely via standard management interfaces and SNMP protocols. Monitoring capabilities include traffic statistics, error reporting, and port status, allowing proactive management of network resources.

Integration with Data Center Automation Tools

Solarflare adapters, including SFNX2542, are compatible with popular data center automation and orchestration tools. This allows automated provisioning, monitoring, and scaling of network resources, supporting DevOps workflows and agile infrastructure management.

Solarflare SFNX2542 for Your Enterprise Network

The SFNX2542 stands out as a premium choice for enterprises, cloud providers, and HPC organizations. Its combination of dual-port 100GBE connectivity, low latency, high throughput, and advanced XtremeScale features ensures exceptional server and network performance. The adapter's reliability, power efficiency, and virtualization support make it a future-proof investment for data center scalability and high-performance networking.

Enhanced Network Efficiency

By offloading network processing to hardware, the SFNX2542 frees server CPU resources, enabling better application performance and reducing latency. Enterprises can achieve more throughput per server, optimizing both performance and cost efficiency.

Scalable and Future-Proof Design

With dual QSFP28 ports, PCIe 3.1 interface, and XtremeScale technology, the adapter supports current 100GbE standards while remaining ready for future network upgrades. This scalability ensures long-term compatibility with evolving data center requirements.

Robust Security and Compliance