Network interface cards, which are also called fiber NIC cards. Fiber NIC
cards can provide fast and reliable network connections for users computers or
network servers. And there are several common types of network interface cards
in the market, such as fiber NIC card and wireless network card. This article
will shed light on fiber NIC cards and their different applications.
What Is Fiber NIC Card?
Fiber NIC card is also called fiber LAN card or
fiber server adapter. It is like a circuit board which are designed to allow
computers or servers to communicate with a network. The fiber network card has a
unique physical network address, also referred to as a MAC address. Fiber NIC
card is usually a separate adapter card that can be inserted into one of the
server’s motherboard expansion slots. The side plate of the fiber NIC is usually
built with an interface like SFP, SFP+ or QSFP+ port. The card can translate
computer data into electrical signals and the signals are compatible with the
network., which is easy to exchange information. In the next part, some common
types of fiber optic NIC cards will be elaborated in detail.
Common Fiber NIC Card Types Overview
Gigabit fiber network card, 10G fiber network
card, 25G fiber NIC card and 40G fiber NIC card are common types of fiber NIC
cards. Some basic information about them will be elaborated in the following
part.
Gigabit Fiber Network Card
The gigabit Ethernet fiber network card, which is
also known as the 1000Mbps optical network card. Usually, its maximum
transmission speed can reach 1000Mbps and only provide a fixed transmission
speed. According to different bus interfaces, gigabit fiber network card can be
divided into PCI gigabit network card, PCI-X gigabit network card and PCI
express gigabit network card. Based on different network interfaces, it can be
grouped into RJ-45 gigabit fiber network card and SFP gigabit fiber NIC
card.
10G Fiber Network Card
10G fiber network card
uses a 32/64-bit PCI bus network interface card to establish a connection
between the PC and the switch to solve the bottleneck problem of the server
network card in the intranet mode. SFP+ single mode or multimode fibers and
DAC/AOC cable can be used in 10G fiber network cards. The integrated
communication control chip of 10G fiber network card relieves the pressure of
CPU data processing. And 10G fiber NIC cards, especially 10Gbase-t NIC card, are
frequently used in computers due to its relatively low transmission speed.
25G Fiber NIC Card
25G fiber NIC card
typically operates at the physical or data link layer and has a unique physical
address (MAC address). In addition, the 25G fiber NIC card has one or two SFP28
ports on the side panel, which is mainly used to connect the optical module to
the switch. Common SFP28 optical module or the SFP28 high-speed cable (DAC) can
be used in 25G fiber NIC card. The 25G fiber NIC card is mainly used for the
connection between the servers and the switches.
40G Fiber NIC Card
40G fiber NIC card has a 40G QSFP+ interface that
supports 40Gbps transmission bandwidth. It supports the PCI-e x8 standard slot
to ensure efficient and stable operation. Usually, the 40G fiber NIC card also
has single port and dual ports. And 40G fiber NIC cards in some companies have
different functions. For example, 40 Gigabit Ethernet adapters in Intel can
provides traffic separation (VMS) for virtual machines, state offload and use
server and network virtualization. While 40 Gigabit Ethernet adapters in
Mellanox are the highest performing interconnect solution for enterprise data
centers, cloud computing, high-performance computing, and embedded
environments.
Application of Fiber NIC Cards
Fiber NIC cards have two major applications. They
can applied to the connection between network servers, computer or storage and
switches to realize 10G, 25G, 40G or up to 100G data transmissions. Here gives
an specific application scenario of 10G fiber NIC cards. Just show as the below
picture. The 10GBASE-T network card connects the ToR switch or EoR usage models
via Cat6a/Cat7 UTP cables.
Conclusion
From what has mentioned above, you may likely to
have a general idea about different fiber NIC cards. When you decide to choose
different fiber NIC cards, it is very important for you to find the suitable
ones based on your own needs. FS provides products such as 10G, 25G, 40G fiber
NIC cards at competitive prices. If you need any help, feel free to contact us
at sales@fs.com.
