Broadcom BCM95720A2003AC dual-port 1GBASE-T PCIe 2.0 x1 network card

Dual-port 1GBASE-T server adapter

The Broadcom BCM95720A2003AC is a dual-port 1GBASE-T PCIe network card built for enterprise servers and data-centre workloads. It delivers two independent copper Ethernet connections through a single PCI Express 2.0 x1 slot, adding line-rate throughput for virtualised hosts or storage networks. The adapter targets administrators who need reliable, standards-based connectivity without occupying a larger slot.

PCI Express 2.0 x1 interface

The single specification that determines fit is the PCI Express 2.0 x1 host interface, which limits the card to one lane of second-generation bandwidth. Each port runs at 10/100/1000Mbps and supports IEEE 802.3az Energy Efficient Ethernet, IEEE 802.1Q VLAN tagging and IEEE 802.3x flow control. The controller provides 17 receive queues, 16 transmit queues and 17 MSI-X vectors for VMware NetQueue and Microsoft VMQ virtualization offload.

Low-profile slot and copper cabling

Installation requires an available PCIe 2.0 x1 or larger slot and two RJ45 Category 5e or better cables for copper links up to 100 metres. The card operates between 32 and 131 degrees Fahrenheit at 5 to 95 percent non-condensing humidity, so standard server airflow is sufficient. It frees a wider PCIe slot for storage or GPU expansion while adding dual gigabit ports for redundancy or link aggregation.