Endace Launches the DAG 9.2X2 Full Duplex 10Gb/s Capable PCIe Gen 2 Packet Capture Card

Auckland, New Zealand - 25 March 2010 - Endace, world leaders in high-speed network security solutions based on proprietary DAG® (Data Acquisition and Generation) packet capture technology, today announced the launch of the DAG 9.2X2 - the world’s first dual port 10 Gigabit per second (Gb/s) PCI Express (PCIe) Gen 2 packet capture card.

The 9.2X2 is based on Altera’s high-performance Stratix® IV GX FPGA. The 9.2X2 is capable of capturing every packet (to host memory), regardless of packet size, on a full-duplex 10 Gb/s Ethernet link. Targeted at government agencies, telecommunications companies and large enterprises that demand the “power to see all” on their high-speed networks, the card is available for purchase immediately.

Neil Livingston, chief product officer at Endace, said: “This is a significant milestone for Endace. With the help and support of Altera, we’ve been able to overcome the many challenges associated with delivering every packet to host memory on a fully saturated bi-directional link at 20 Gb/s. By leveraging Stratix IV GX FPGAs and PCIe Gen 2 x8 bus technology, we were able to overcome significant bandwidth limitations. By providing two enhanced Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP+) optical transceivers, we lower power consumption, which results in the 9.2X2 being our most powerful and energy efficient card to date.”

“This launch also marks a second significant milestone for Endace as it coincides with the sale of our 10,000th DAG card,” Livingston added.

“Altera’s advanced FPGA solutions have a proven track record for providing high-speed packet processing, and we are pleased Endace based their DAG 9.2X2 around our Stratix IV GX FPGA,” said Amr El-Ashmawi, strategic business and market development manager in Altera’s military/aerospace business unit. “The DAG 9.2X2 is a highly effective monitoring system, providing several advanced capabilities that will greatly benefit the intelligence community.”

The DAG 9.2X2

  • Utilizes SFP+ pluggable optical transceivers supporting IEEE 802.3ae 10 Gb/s Ethernet
  • Delivers 100-percent capture for all frames from 64 to 9600 bytes to host memory
  • Is designed to integrate easily into host platforms with x8 lane PCI Express 2.0 bus compatibility
  • Supports precise nanosecond packet time stamping with clock synchronization from external time references including GPS and CDMA
  • Offers support for industry standard packet capture format [libPCAP/WinPCAP].

The 9.2X2 can be purchased as a standalone card, or it can be deployed inside a 3000 or 7000 EndaceProbe. The 9.2X2 is the packet capture engine behind Endace’s recent 10 Gb/s Intrusion Detection product introduction.