PRODUCT BRIEF

Intel® 82579 Gigabit Network Connections

Network Connectivity/Ethernet Controllers

Intel® 82579 GbE Controller

Network Connection
High-performance Gigabit Network Connectivity with Support for Intel® vPro™ technology.

Overview
The Intel® 82579 family of Gigabit Ethernet Controllers provides compact, single-port
integrated physical layer devices that connect to the Intel® 6 Series Express chipsets.
The 82579 family of products are gigabit copper networking components for mobile,
desktop, workstation, embedded and value-server designs that have critical space and
power constraints.

Key Details
 educed Power and Energy Savings:
R Simplified installation and Maintenance:
The Intel® 82579 family reduces the Intel® 82579LM products also support
power consumption in all power states the Intel Stable Image Platform Program
compared to previous generations of Intel (SIPP), which provides system image sta-
controllers. While in active-idle Intel® has bility (both hardware and software) and
implemented Energy Efficient Ethernet consistency for at least 12 months from
(EEE)1, a new IEEE* standard. With EEE the product launch date. Helping IT better
Intel has reduced the idle power of the manage their client environment.
gigabit link from about 500 mW to nearly Performance-Enhancing Features: Each
50 mW providing a significant energy of the Intel® 82579 family of network
savings. For mobile designs, Intel’s Auto components includes advanced interrupt-
Connect Battery Saver can help reduce handling features to reduce CPU over-
the cable-disconnected power of the chip heard. Other performance-enhancing fea-
to about 30 mW while still maintaining full tures include offloading TCP/UDP (for both
functionality. The products also support IPv4 and IPv6) checksum calculations and
advanced link downshifting capabilities performing TCP segmentation. Advanced
to provide additional power headroom for features such as Jumbo Frame support for
system regulatory compliance (such as extra-large packets and Receive Side Scal-
Energy Star*) by lowering the link speed ing are also supported.
under certain conditions to save power.
Advanced Security: The Intel® 82579LM

Intel® Business Client Features: The supports the latest Ethernet security
Intel® 82579LM supports Intel® AMT2, standard known as MACsec3 (IEEE stan-
which is a part of Intel’s vPro™ technology dard 802.1ae). MACsec provides robust
on notebooks, desktop, and workstation security at a low level of the system by
systems. Intel vPro technology provides providing MAC layer (layer 2) encryption
built-in manageability, proactive security, and authentication capability hop-by-hop.
and energy-efficient performance for This enables IT to fully encrypt network
business applications. traffic, but still perform traffic shaping
and analysis at the router and doesn’t
interfere with existing network protocols.
Flexible, Low-Cost System Design:
Comparison of Controller Features
The Intel® 82579 family of networking
components provide a small package (6x6 Features 82579V 82579LM
mm) networking option for convenient 10 Base T (IEEE 802.3 specification conformance)  
board layout. The Intel® 82579 has flexible 100 Base TX (IEEE 802.3 specification conformance)  
power options including sharing the 1.05 1000 Base T (IEEE 802.3 specification conformance)  
Vdc supply with the chipset or it can be
Auto-Negotiation (IEEE 802.3u)  
configured using the integrated switching
Intel® vPro™ technology
2

voltage regulator (iSVR), removing the
need for an external regulator and reduc- Intel® Stable Image Platform Program (SIPP) 
ing overall cost and board space. Addition- Intel® Standard Manageablity  
ally, the 82579 family of products help Energy Efficient Ethernet (IEEE 802.3az)1
 
to reduce board space by using a shared iSCSI Boot Support 
FLASH design. Finally, low thermal design
MACsec (802.1ae) 3

power (TDP) helps improve board place-
TCP/UDP checksum and segmentation offload (IPv4 and IPv6)  
ment flexibility.
Receive Side Scaling  
Environmentally friendly design: The
Dual TX and RX queues  
Intel® 82579 family of products are all lead
free4 and halogen free5 in their silicon and Jumbo Frames (up to 9K)  
package design to reduce the potential for Teaming  
environmental impact. Integrated Auto Connect Battery Saver (ACBS) battery savings  
VLAN Tagging (802.1q/ 802.1p)  
Timing and Synchronization (802.1as / 1588)  
Shared Switched Voltage Regulator (SVR) with chipset  
Integrated Switched Voltage Regulator (iSVR)  
Shared FLASH with system BIOS  

For more information on the Intel® 82579 Gigabit Ethernet Controller, please visit www.intel.com/go/connectivity.

Component Summary

CONTROLLER∆ DISTINGUISHING FEATURES ORDER CODES

Intel® 82579LM • Corporate LAN product with support for Intel® vPro™ technology, Intel® AMT , Energy Efficient 2
WG82579LM
Ethernet (802.3AZ)1, MACsec (802.1ae)3, Intel® SIPP, iSCSI Boot, Server OS support.
• Intended for mobile, desktop, workstation, entry server and embedded designs.
Intel® 82579V • Consumer LAN product with support for Energy Effiencient Ethernet (802.3AZ)1, Intel® Standard WG82579V
Manageablity, ACBS and standard Gigabit networking features
• Intended for mobile, desktop, and embedded design

1 Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE) low-power idle requires that both link partners supprt IEEE802.3az.
2 Intel® Active Management Technology (AMT) requires specific Intel chipsets in addition to the Intel 82579LM networking component. Intel Standard Manageability requires specific Intel chipsets in addition to the Intel 82579LM networking
component.
3 MACsec (802.1ae) security requires Intel® 82579LM with EEPROM bits set for MACsec support, a MACsec software supplicant (available from 3rd party vendors) and a MACsec-capable switch.
4 Lead has not been intentionally added, but lead may still exist as an impurity below 1000 ppm.
5 Lead and other materials banned in the RoHS Directive are either: (1) below all applicable substance thresholds as proposed by the EU or (2) an approved/pending exemption applies.
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