Myricom is pleased to announce two, new, low-cost, one-port, Myri-10G NICs with SFP+ or 10GBase-CX ports. Both NICs are based on the Myricom Lanai-Z8ES chip -- a low-power, programmable, 10Gb / PCI Express x8 controller used in all of Myricom's latest series of "8B" Myri-10G NICs. In comparison with the previous series of one-port "8A" NICs, based on the Lanai-Z8E chip, these new "8B" NICs have a 21.5% higher internal clock rate and ~40% lower power consumption. However, their list prices are $100 less than those of the corresponding "8A" NICs. In addition, these new NICs are RoHS-compliant lead-free (RoHS-6) rather than RoHS-compliant under the server exemption (RoHS-5).

The 10G-PCIE-8B-C NIC (see the full specifications) replaces the 10G-PCIE-8A-C NIC in the Myri-10G product list, and is functionally equivalent when used with the latest software. Typical power consumption is only 5.1 Watts. The 10G-PCIE-8A-C, which has been shipping in ever-increasing volume since early 2006, has now been moved to the special-order product list, and is recommended only if an exact replacement is required. The initial list price of the 10G-PCIE-8B-C NIC is $495 with the Ethernet software bundle, or $515 with the MX software bundle, each $100 less than the corresponding list prices for the 10G-PCIE-8A-C NIC.

The 10G-PCIE-8B-S NIC (see the full specifications) replaces the 10G-PCIE-8A-S NIC in the Myri-10G product list, and is functionally equivalent when used with the latest software. Typical power consumption is only 3.9 Watts when used with SFP+-terminated Direct Attach twinax copper cables, or less than 4.9 Watts when used with a 10G-SFP-SR or 10G-SFP-LR transceiver for 10GBase-SR or -LR communication over duplex serial fiber. The 10G-PCIE-8A-S has now been moved to the special-order product list, and is recommended only if an exact replacement is required. The initial list price of the 10G-PCIE-8B-S NIC is $595 with the Ethernet software bundle, $100 less than the corresponding list price for the 10G-PCIE-8A-S NIC.

Afterwords: As indicated in the 1-Oct-08 announcement of the 10G-PCIE-8B-2S NIC, the first of the Lanai-Z8ES-based NICs, Myricom's priority for new "8B" NIC products was initially for two-port NICs, High Speed Expansion Cards for the IBM BladeCenter H, and NICs for HPC applications. This product announcement completes the transition of Myri-10G NICs to the Lanai-Z8ES chip except for the 10G-PCIE-8A-R NICs, which use XFP transceivers. Inasmuch as SFP+ transceivers are functionally equivalent and more economical than XFP transceivers, we recommend that customers who have been using the 10G-PCIE-8A-R NICs with XFP transceivers use instead 10G-PCIE-8B-S NICs with SFP+ transceivers.

Over the next several months, all of the other "8B" Myri-10G NICs will make the transition from RoHS-compliant under the server exemption (RoHS-5) to RoHS-compliant lead-free (RoHS-6).