Programmable network card?

[oxf77]

Hi guys, do any of you know a network card which allows a developer to add/edit the firmware or any custom-programming?

I did find this:

http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/c-5-dreamplugs.aspx

but the problem is that I would rather a network card which plugs into a desktop so that I can still draw upon the power of a much faster processor (whereas the device above uses a smaller CPU).

 

[bitslice]

I think the bigfoot cards are programable
http://bigfootnetworks.com/killer-2100/

 

[oxf77]

I think the bigfoot cards are programable
http://bigfootnetworks.com/killer-2100/

Hmmm there seems to be no mention of this on the website

 

[bitslice]

It has a CPU and I'm pretty sure of the early reviews/marketing mentioning the concept of having code running on it that would extend it's usefulness. Maybe they were thinking of an inbuilt firewall at some point.

Worth an email to the company, they may have a developer API

edit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_NIC
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/252309-10-killer


killer nic fna
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=killer+nic+fna&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CCwQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bigfootnetworks.com%2Fsupport%2Findex.php%3F_m%3Ddownloads%26_a%3Ddownloadfile%26downloaditemid%3D6&ei=0LvfTpy1Jcy1hAfNsYGbBQ&usg=AFQjCNFSuNFnPN3FQdu68OEFxsTMA_iyjA

http://www.bigfootnetworks.com/support/index.php

 

[oxf77]

It has a CPU and I'm pretty sure of the early reviews/marketing mentioning the concept of having code running on it that would extend it's usefulness. Maybe they were thinking of an inbuilt firewall at some point.

Worth an email to the company, they may have a developer API

edit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_NIC
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/252309-10-killer


killer nic fna
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rc...sYGbBQ&usg=AFQjCNFSuNFnPN3FQdu68OEFxsTMA_iyjA

Thanks I shall!

Do you think all of the code located on the card with a 1.2GHz processor would be faster than say a network card FPGA, connected to a normal 3.6GHz desktop PC via PCI-E?

Does the PCI-E bottleneck the performance to be slower than the 1.2GHz processor on the card?

 

[bitslice]

Not sure
data to a nic goes though lots of layers before it gets anywhere near the network,
chances are code running on the nic is going to be faster because it has direct access to the nic fpga

 

[oxf77]

Not sure
data to a nic goes though lots of layers before it gets anywhere near the network,
chances are code running on the nic is going to be faster because it has direct access to the nic fpga

I dont suppose you know where I could find out pricing for these (I have emailled the suppliers, but just wondered if you knew any websites):

http://www.advancedio.com/products/function/programmable-network-interface-solutions/

http://www.cyclone.com/products/network_adapters/index.php

? Thanks