Intel makes NetEffect connection

INTEL, IT SEEMS, just can’t get enough of ethernet-based networking. To satiate its growing appetite, the firm has just snapped up network connectivity firm NetEffect, which dabbles in ethernet products and technologies for server clusters.

NetEffect caught Intel’s eye with its ethernet-based alternative to InfiniBand, iWarp, something Intel was willing to shell out a cool $8 million for, apparently.

Founded in 1998, NetEffect includes 1Gbit and 10Gbit Ethernet (GbE) adapters for servers and blade configurations as well as 10GbE Asics in its product portfolio.

The $8 million in Intel cash will buy all of NetEffect’s product portfolio, intellectual property and technology, as well as gain Chipzilla thirty NetEffect employees.

Intel reckons the move will bring higher performance network interface cards to its own ethernet portfolio, something the firm’s general manager of LAN Access Division, Tom Swinford, confirms. Swinford noted the deal would allow Intel to address “customers’ most important 10 Gigabit ethernet needs, including server virtualisation, convergence of network and storage traffic, and server clusters.” µ