Netgear GA302T Reference Guide - Page 9

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Congratulations on your purchase of the NETGEAR® GA302T Copper Gigabit 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 GA302T for operation within a Microsoft® Windows® XP, Windows® 2000, Windows® Me, Windows® 98 or Windows® NT 4.0 environment. This chapter provides information about the features of the GA302T. 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. Benefits Performance is optimized and network overhead on the host system is minimized with the use of the GA302T Copper Gigabit Adapter. The GA302T 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 GA302T 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 GA302T is 802.1p-compliant for frame priority tagging. Using it with 802.1p-compliant switches or routers, it offers a range of traffic prioritization of Layer 2 frames, providing a higher Quality of Service on high-speed local area networks. introduction 1-1