816551-001 – HPE Ethernet 1Gb 4-Port 366T PCI Adapter

Overview on the HPE 366T Ethernet Adapter

The HPE Ethernet 1Gb 4-Port 366T Adapter (HPE Spare Part Number: 816551-001) is an enterprise-class, low-power quad-port network expansion card. It is engineered to meet the high-density networking and virtualization requirements of select HPE ProLiant Gen9 and Gen10 rack and tower servers. Built on a single-chip architecture, this standard plug-in expansion board features a PCI Express 2.1 x4 host interface that fits into low-profile or full-height server slots. Offering four independent 10/100/1000BASE-T RJ-45 copper terminals, it provides scalable, multi-device connectivity using standard twisted-pair Category 5 (or better) copper cabling. It is ideal for enterprise environments that need to maximize port density, establish independent virtualization lines, or expand local network I/O pathways without upgrading to costly fiber optics.

This quad-port network interface card (NIC) prioritizes structural power efficiency and heavy workload optimization. At its physical foundation, the adapter leverages the highly reliable Intel® Ethernet Controller I350 (I350-T4V2) chipset. This specialized processor delivers full hardware acceleration for stateless TCP/IP, UDP, and segment offloading. By shifting checksum computation routines from the server’s main host CPU directly onto the network card, it reduces host processor load and improves overall application responsiveness. Each independent port delivers a 1 Gb/s full-duplex line rate, combining for up to 8 Gb/s of bi-directional theoretical aggregate bandwidth. As a result, it eliminates data transmission bottlenecks, coordinates smooth failover operations, and easily supports intensive client access requests.

Key Features & Performance

• Quad-Port 1GBASE-T Density: Outfitted with four high-speed RJ-45 ports that support 10/100/1000 Mbps line speeds with full auto-negotiation capabilities. This design enables versatile, multi-device physical connections across the data network.

• Intel I350 Core Chipset: Utilizes the industry-proven Intel I350 silicon controller engine. It streamlines data stream handling, stabilizes line thresholds, and optimizes multi-queue routing pipelines.

• HPE Sea of Sensors 3D Integration: Syncs seamlessly with HPE’s internal autonomous thermal management grid of 32 tracking sensors. It regulates server fan velocities based strictly on local card heat spikes, reducing cooling costs and optimizing total power efficiency.

• Flexible NIC Teaming Protections: Supports advanced network teaming configurations, link aggregation (LACP), and hardware-level load balancing. This ensures full fault tolerance and uninterrupted network uptime if an active Ethernet cable fails.

• Comprehensive Jumbo Frame Support: Handles extended frames up to a 9,500-byte Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU). This drastically cuts down on packet header processing overhead, accelerating large database copies and file storage migrations.

Technical Specifications

• Brand: Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)

• Model Designation: HPE Ethernet 1Gb 4-port 366T Adapter

• HPE Option Part Number: 811546-B21

• HPE Spare Part Number: 816551-001

• Network Controller Processor: Intel® Ethernet Controller I350 (I350-T4V2)

• Host Interface Form Factor: PCI Express 2.1 x4 (Compatible with standard x4, x8, and x16 physical slots)

• Physical Connectors: 4 x RJ-45 Copper Jacks

• Data Transmission Speed: 1 Gbps per port (10/100/1000 Mbps auto-negotiation supported)

• Aggregate Bandwidth: 8 Gb/s bi-directional theoretical network throughput

• IEEE Standards Compliance: IEEE 802.3, 802.3u, 802.3ab, 802.3x, 802.1Q, 802.1p, 802.3ad, 802.1as, 802.3az (Energy Efficient Ethernet)

• Advanced Virtualization Technologies: Intel Virtualization Technology for Connectivity, VMware NetQueue, and Microsoft VMQ

• Data Buffering & Routing Support: MSI-X, Receive Side Scaling (RSS), Large Send Offload (LSO) / TCP Segmentation Offload (TSO)

• Chassis Profile Adaptability: Low-profile plug-in card (Includes pre-installed full-height and alternative half-height mounting brackets)

• Remote Management Support: SNMP protocol tracking and Preboot Execution Environment (PXE)

Virtualization & Software Deployments

The HPE 366T adapter is highly optimized for multi-tenant and containerized server infrastructure:

• Hardware-Assisted VM Queuing: Supports advanced virtual network optimizations such as Microsoft VMQ and VMware NetQueue. These route data packets directly to individual virtual machines, bypassing hypervisor software bottlenecks and lowering latency.

• IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP): Implements specialized hardware time-stamping algorithms (IEEE 1588 and 802.1AS). This guarantees sub-microsecond clock synchronization across cluster nodes, which is essential for financial auditing, real-time logging, and database clustering.

• Decentralized PXE Booting: Features integrated Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) support. This allows systems administrators to power on empty server nodes, install operating systems, and perform mass firmware patches remotely over the local network.

Conclusion

The HPE Ethernet 1Gb 4-Port 366T Adapter offers a highly reliable, high-density networking solution for enterprise racks. It lets you expand a server’s physical connections with four independent Gigabit lines over standard, cost-effective copper twisted-pair cabling. Powered by the robust Intel I350 core engine, it features hardware offloads, Jumbo Frame capabilities, and extensive NIC teaming provisions to keep data pipelines fluid and safe under heavy operational stress. Furthermore, its low-power single-chip design and support for HPE Sea of Sensors 3D management make it easy to maintain energy efficiency inside modern data centers. It provides a balanced, secure, and cost-effective way to manage your system virtualization and networking workloads.