Portwell has announced a 1U appliance targeting VPN, firewall, and network management applications. The CAR-3000 supports Intel processors ranging from a Celeron 440 up to a Core 2 Quad, uses DDR3 memory, and has six Ethernet ports, the company says.

According to Portwell, the modular CAR-3000 comes standard with six onboard gigabit Ethernet (GbE) ports, featuring software-controlled bypass segments ("fail open" or "fail close"). Beyond that, the device also includes a PCI Express x 8 expansion slot that's said to allow adding either Portwell's own proprietary "golden finger" interfaces or third party cards.

Via the slot, the CAR-3000 can offer four additional RJ45 connectors for copper GbE, or two, four, or eight SFP (small form-factor pluggable) connectors for optical GbE. Portwell adds that the device will also be able to support installation of dual 10 gigabit Ethernet ports.

Portwell's CAR-3000
(Click to enlarge)

Given the number of GbE ports that is possible, there could be wide variation in the processing power that is required by the CAR-3000. Portwell says it has that covered, offering the device with a range of CPUs including the Celeron 440, E5300 Pentium, E7400 Core 2 Duo, and Q9400 Core 2 Quad. The device uses Intel's G41 chipset (below) and ICH7R I/O controller, allowing it to support DDR3 memory and offer frontside bus speeds of 1066MHz or 1333MHz, the company adds.

A block diagram of Intel's G41 chipset
(Click to enlarge)

Portwell says the CAR-3000's two 240-pin DIMM sockets support up to 4GB of memory. Mass storage, meanwhile, is catered for by support for a SATA hard disk drive — either a 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch model will fit — and by an onboard CompactFlash socket.

Finally, a front-panel display on the CAR-3000 may be either a 16 x 2 LCD character display with four buttons, a 128 x 32 graphical display with four buttons, or a 128 x 64 graphical module with seven buttons, according to the company. Including an RJ45 connector for a serial console, the appliance is also said to support VGA output, though only by an onboard pin-header.

Features and specifications listed by Portwell for the CAR-3000 include the following:

• Processor — LGA775 socket supports Celeron 440, E5300 Pentium, E7400 Core 2 Duo, Q9400 Core 2 Quad
• Memory — Up to 4GB of DDR3 memory via two DIMM sockets
• Display — 16 x 2 LCD character display with four buttons, a 128 x 32 graphical display with four buttons, or a 128 x 64 graphical module with seven buttons; VGA output via pin header
• Storage — 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch hard disk drive, or CompactFlash
• Networking:
  • 6 x GbE with RJ45 connectors (standard)
  • 4 additional GbE with RJ45 connectors (optional)
  • 2, 4, or 8 GbE with SFP connectors (optional)
  • 2 x USB 2.0 (front-accessible)
  • 1 x serial (with RJ45 connector for console)
  • 1 x VGA (pin header)
• Expansion:
  • PCI Express x 8 expansion slot (offers standard connector or "golden finger" option)
  • CompactFlash slot
• Operating temperature — 41 to 104 deg. F (5 to 40 deg. C)
• Power — 200-Watt ATX power supply with AC input
• Dimensions — 17.45 x 11.5 x 1.73 inches (444 x 292.1 x 44mm)

Frank Shen, American Portwell Technology's product marketing director, stated, "The CAR-3000 is a product that balances cost and configuration. It's expandable for future changes. Its modular design simplifies cabling. It's ready for the 10G Ethernet solution and can meet the needs of today's most advanced data centers. And it's designed for OEM branding."

Availability

Portwell did not provide specifics about availability or operating system support for the CAR-3000, but the x86 platform should support Linux as well as various Windows platforms. More information on the CAR-3000 may be found on Portwell's website, here.

 
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