HP NC550SFP dual port 10GbE server adapter OCE10102

HP NC550SFP dual-port 10 GbE adapter

This HP network adapter provides two 10 GbE SFP+ ports on a single PCI Express 2.0 x8 interface. It is built for servers that need high-throughput connectivity for storage, virtualisation or clustering workloads. The card installs in any compatible PCIe 2.0 or newer slot. It suits administrators who want to add dual 10 GbE links without replacing the motherboard.

Upgrading from single-port or 1 GbE NICs

Moving from a single-port 10 GbE card or from dual 1 GbE interfaces doubles the available bandwidth and adds link redundancy. The PCIe 2.0 x8 bus supplies enough throughput for both ports at line rate. The jump is worth it when the server handles concurrent VM traffic, iSCSI storage or backup streams that saturate a single 10 GbE link. Servers limited to PCIe 1.0 slots will not reach full performance.

Capacity and headroom for 10 GbE workloads

Two SFP+ cages accept a range of direct-attach cables or transceiver modules for fibre or copper reach. The adapter handles typical 10 GbE server duties such as vMotion, live migration and distributed storage replication. It runs out of headroom when the workload demands more than two 10 GbE links or requires PCIe 3.0 bandwidth for higher-density networking. Additional ports would need a second adapter or a higher-port-count card.