Lanner announced a high-end network security appliance sporting two Intel Xeon C5500 processors. The FW-8910 supports a whopping 96GB of RAM, has two 3.5-inch drive bays, offers up to 40 gigabit Ethernet ports, and is available with a Cavium Nitrox content inspection accelerator, the company says.

Intel's C5500 and C3500 Xeons (right) were first promised under their "Jasper Forest" code name last September, then revealed with their final monikers last week. The latest manifestation of Intel's "Nehalem" microarchitecture, they're aimed at communications, storage, wireless infrastructure, routers, military, and security applications, Intel says.

While the C5500 and C3500 are still 45nm parts, they nonetheless represent a breakthrough, says Intel, because they include an I/O hub integrated via PCI Express. The 3420 Platform Controller Hub provides eight PCI Express x1 ports (configurable as x2 and x4), six SATA 3Gb/sec. ports, 12 USB 2.0 ports, and "Matrix Storage Technology," the chipmaker says. Intel adds that the 3420 allows using the Xeon CPUs in either single- or dual-processor configurations.

It's the dual-processor configuration that Lanner has chosen for its high-end FW-8910, citing dual Xeon C5500 CPUs. Though further details weren't provided — Intel lists five different Xeon C5500 models, as we reported last week — this means the device may offer a clock speed of up to 2.53GHz base/2.93GHz turbo, and as many as eight total CPU cores.

Apart from the above, the FW-8910 also provides a massive amount of memory expansion: Lanner says the device's 12 240-pin DIMM slots allow it to accept up to 96MB of 1333/1066/800MHz DDR3 RAM. Non-volatile storage may be provided both via a CompactFlash slot or via a removable tray that accepts two or four 3.5-inch hard disk drives with optional RAID, the company adds.

Lanner's FW-8910

The rack-mountable FW-8910 (above) offers up to five Ethernet modules which, between them, can provide as many as 40 gigabit Ethernet ports, with copper, fiber, and bypass options, according to Lanner. The device is also said to accept "multiple" 10 gigabit cards, although how many was not detailed.

Lanner says the FW-8910 is expandable via PCI Express x8 and PCI Express x4 slots, the first of which is accessible externally. An optional Cavium Nitrox CN1620 security processor is said to offer up to 2.5Gbps of IPsec and SSL throughout, and up to 17K 1024-bit RSA operations per second.

According to Lanner, the FW-8910 has four swappable fans, and redundant 500-watt power supplies. In addition to the Ethernet ports mentioned above, it has a RJ45 port for a serial console, plus two USB 2.0 ports, the company adds.

Features and specifications listed by Lanner for the FW-8910 include the following:

• Processor — Dual Intel Xeon C5500 CPUs (specific models not detailed)
• Chipset — Intel 3420
• Memory — up to 96GB of DDR3 RAM via 12 240-pin DIMM slots
• Display — serial console only
• Storage — accepts 2 or 4 3.5-inch SATA HDDs (hard disk drives) and CompactFlash
• Expansion:
  • 1 x PCI Express x8 slot (external)
  • 1 x PCI Express x 4 slot (internal)
• Networking — five Ethernet modules accept up to 40 copper or fiber gigabit Ethernet ports; unspecified number of 10 gigabit cards also possible
• Other I/O:
  • 1 x RJ45 for serial console
  • 2 x USB 2.0
• Power requirements — 2 x 500 Watt power supply; 90 to 264VAC
• Operating temperature — 32 to 104 deg. F (0 to 40 deg. C)
• Dimensions — 25.23 x 17.48 x 3.46 inches (641 x 444 x 88mm)
• Weight — 48.5 pounds (22kg)

Availability

According to Lanner, the FW-8910 supports Linux, Windows XP, Windows 2003, and Windows 2000. While pricing was not disclosed, it's said the device will be on display at the RSA Conference (scheduled from March 1-4 in San Francisco), and will sample during the first quarter.

More information on the FW-8910 may be found on Lanner's website, here.

This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.