NETGEAR GA311 - Manual (Page 9)

NETGEAR 10/100/1000 Mbps Gigabit Ethernet Adapter GA311 User Manual
1-1
v1.0, February 2007
Chapter 1
Introduction
This chapter introduces the features, package contents, and appearance of the NETGEAR 10/100/
1000 Mbps Gigabit Ethernet Adapter GA311.
About the NETGEAR 10/100/1000 Mbps Gigabit Ethernet
Adapter GA311
Congratulations on your purchase of the NETGEAR® GA311 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter. Designed
especially for high-performance systems, such as servers and high-end workstations, it offers 2
gigabits per second (Gbps) of aggregate bandwidth and optimized performance while minimizing
network overhead on the host system. This guide describes the installation and use of the GA311
for operation with a Microsoft® Windows® Vista, Windows® XP, Windows® 2000, Windows®
Me, Windows® 98SE 2nd edition, or Windows NT 4.0 (with Service Pack 5 or above) system.
It connects your PCI-compliant workstation to a Gigabit Ethernet network, incorporating a new
technology that transfers data at a rate of 1 Gbps or 1000 megabits per second (Mbps) over
standard Category 5 cables. Performance is optimized and network overhead on the host system is
minimized with the use of the GA311 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter.
The GA311 has demonstrated interoperability with all major Gigabit Ethernet equipment on the
market that is compliant with IEEE 802.3ab standards and should work with most non-compliant
Gigabit Ethernet products. In addition, because the GA311 uses standard Ethernet frame and
Media Access Control (MAC) formats, it provides full compatibility with Fast Ethernet network
equipment through network switches from a variety of vendors, including NETGEAR®.
The GA311 is 802.1Q/1p-compliant for frame priority tagging. The IEEE 802.1Q standard defines
the operation of Virtual LAN (VLAN) Bridges that permit the definition, operation and
administration of Virtual LAN topologies within a Bridged LAN infrastructure. Using the GA311
with 802.1p-compliant switches or routers offers a range of traffic prioritization of Layer 2 frames,
providing a higher Quality of Service on high-speed local area networks.