Intel Gigabit ET Quad Port Server Adapter ... multi-core platform as well as in a virtualized environment. In a multi-core platform, the adapters support different technologies such as Intel QuickData technology, MSI-X, and low latency interrupts, that help in accelerating the data across the platform, thereby improving application response times.

The I/O technologies on a multi-core platform make use of the multiple queues and multiple interrupt vectors available on the network controller. These queues and interrupt vectors help in load balancing the data and interrupts amongst themselves in order to lower the load on the processors and improve overall system performance. For example, depending upon the latency sensitivity of the data, the low level latency interrupts feature can bypass the time interval for specific TCP ports or for flagged packets to give certain types of data streams the least amount of latency to the application.

The Intel Gigabit ET Quad Port Server Adapters showcase the latest virtualization technology called Intel Virtualization Technology for Connectivity (Intel VT for Connectivity). Intel VT for Connectivity is a suite of hardware assists that improve overall system performance by lowering the I/O overhead in a virtualized environment. This optimizes CPU usage, reduces system latency, and improves I/O through-put. Use of multi-port adapters in a virtualized environment is very important because of the need to provide redundancy and data connectivity for the applications/workloads in the virtual machines.