Lenovo 7ZT7A00549 Thinksystem 10GB 4-PORT Base-t LOM

Lenovo 7ZT7A00549 ThinkSystem 10GbE 4-Port Base-T LOM

Overview

The Lenovo 7ZT7A00549 is a quad-port 10GbE LAN-on-Motherboard (LOM) adapter built for ThinkSystem rack servers running high-throughput workloads — think surveillance recording stacks, hyperconverged nodes, or dense virtualization hosts where network bandwidth is the first bottleneck. Riding a PCIe host interface and powered by an Intel C624 chipset, it delivers four independent 10GBase-T copper links that each auto-negotiate down to 1GbE or 100Mbps, preserving backward compatibility with existing switching infrastructure without requiring SFP+ transceivers or fiber cabling.

At 0.65 lb and factory-dimensioned at 10.00 × 6.00 × 2.00 in, this is an internal adapter — it slots directly into compatible ThinkSystem platforms and stays out of the way of your drive bays and riser cards. Because it connects over standard RJ-45, you can drop it into any data center or wiring closet already cabled for Cat6/Cat6A without pulling new fiber or sourcing optics.

Key Features

• Four independent 10GBase-T ports: Forty gigabits of aggregate bandwidth available across four copper RJ-45 interfaces. On a 64-channel NVR ingesting 4K streams, that headroom means you won't hit a NIC ceiling before the storage or CPU does. Each port negotiates independently, so mixing 1G and 10G segments on the same server is straightforward.
• Intel C624 chipset: The C624 is a server-class workload controller, not a desktop offload chip. It handles protocol processing at line rate without leaning on the host CPU — important on surveillance workloads where the processor is already busy with codec decode and motion analysis tasks running in parallel.
• PCIe host interface: Direct PCIe connectivity means latency stays low and the bandwidth ceiling sits well above what four 10GbE ports can push. No USB or external bottleneck — traffic from all four ports moves through the PCIe bus at native speed.
• IEEE 802.3ad link aggregation (LACP): Bond two or more ports into a single logical interface for both fault tolerance and increased throughput. A two-port LACP bond gives you a 20Gbps logical pipe with automatic failover — relevant when a single 10GbE uplink isn't enough for a high-camera-count recording server pulling from multiple VLANs simultaneously.
• VLAN tagging (IEEE 802.1Q): Segment traffic at the NIC level without adding a separate managed switch port per service. Run camera VLANs, management VLANs, and storage traffic on separate tagged interfaces over the same physical cables — a clean fit for multi-tenant or compliance-driven deployments.
• Quality of Service (IEEE 802.1p): QoS priority marking at the NIC means you can tag surveillance stream traffic as high-priority before it ever hits the switch fabric. In converged networks where camera traffic competes with backup jobs or VM live migration, that hardware-level prioritization prevents dropped frames at the switch queue.
• Jumbo frames up to 9728 bytes: Larger MTU reduces per-packet overhead on high-throughput transfers — particularly useful for iSCSI storage traffic or bulk video offload to NAS/SAN targets. Enabling 9K jumbo frames across your switching fabric can meaningfully reduce CPU interrupt load on recording servers moving sustained multi-gigabit streams.
• IEEE 802.3x flow control: Hardware-level pause frame support prevents buffer overruns between the NIC and the upstream switch during burst traffic — a safeguard against dropped packets when multiple cameras trigger simultaneous motion events and storage writes spike.
• SNMP security support: The adapter exposes SNMP-compatible management hooks, allowing NOC teams to monitor link state, error counters, and utilization through standard network management platforms without requiring vendor-specific agents.
• 10/100/1000/10000 Mbit/s auto-negotiation: Full speed ladder means the same card works whether your switch infrastructure is all-10G, a mix of 10G uplinks with 1G access ports, or still mid-migration. No forced-speed configuration headaches during phased network upgrades.

Integration & Compatibility

Lenovo validates the 7ZT7A00549 against a specific set of ThinkSystem platforms: the SR630, SR650, SR850, SR860, and SR950. These are 1U/2U/4U rack servers positioned across compute-dense, memory-optimized, and mission-critical segments of the ThinkSystem line. If your target platform isn't on that list, verify compatibility through Lenovo's ServerProven program before ordering — LOM adapters are platform-specific by design and won't physically or electrically seat in arbitrary servers.

The 10GBase-T physical layer requires Cat6A cabling for reliable 10GbE operation at runs beyond 30 meters; Cat6 supports 10GbE only up to roughly 55 meters under ideal conditions. Plan your cable plant accordingly if runs exceed those thresholds. For environments where fiber is already deployed, a 10GbE SFP+ adapter from the same Lenovo ThinkSystem networking line may be a better fit than this copper LOM.

On the software side, the Intel C624 chipset has broad driver support across major hypervisors (VMware ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V, KVM) and Linux/Windows Server distributions. SR-IOV capable platforms can expose virtual functions directly to guest VMs — useful for VMS workloads running under a hypervisor that need dedicated NIC bandwidth without a vSwitch in the path. Pair this adapter with a managed 10GbE switch to take full advantage of the LACP, VLAN, and QoS features — an unmanaged switch will leave those capabilities idle.

For integrators building out network video recorders or surveillance server stacks on ThinkSystem hardware, this LOM removes the need for an add-in riser card NIC, keeping riser slots free for GPU accelerators or additional storage HBAs. See the server components category for compatible drives, memory, and rail kits that pair with ThinkSystem SR-series platforms. If you're planning a high-channel-count recording deployment, review the storage and retention planning guide alongside network bandwidth requirements — they're tightly coupled on 4K multi-stream servers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Which ThinkSystem servers is the 7ZT7A00549 compatible with?

A: Lenovo validates this LOM for the ThinkSystem SR630, SR650, SR850, SR860, and SR950. It is a platform-specific internal adapter and may not seat or function in ThinkSystem models outside that list.

Q: Does this adapter require SFP+ transceivers or fiber cabling?

A: No. The 7ZT7A00549 uses 10GBase-T over standard RJ-45 copper connectors. It works with Cat6 (up to ~55m at 10GbE) or Cat6A (up to 100m). No optics or fiber required.

Q: Can ports be bonded for higher throughput or redundancy?

A: Yes. The adapter supports IEEE 802.3ad link aggregation (LACP), allowing two or more ports to be bonded into a single logical interface for combined throughput and automatic failover.

Q: What is the maximum jumbo frame size supported?

A: The 7ZT7A00549 supports jumbo frames up to 9728 bytes, which reduces per-packet overhead on high-throughput storage or video transfer workloads.

Q: Does this LOM support VLAN segmentation?

A: Yes. It supports IEEE 802.1Q VLAN tagging, allowing traffic to be segmented at the NIC level across multiple logical networks on the same physical ports.

Q: What cabling is required to achieve full 10GbE speed?

A: For runs up to 100 meters at 10GbE, Cat6A is required. Cat6 supports 10GbE only at shorter distances (typically under 55 meters). At 1GbE speeds, standard Cat5e or Cat6 cabling is sufficient at full 100-meter runs.

Jerry Tildsen

The 7ZT7A00549 is one of those components that doesn't get discussed until someone's recording server hits a network wall — and by then the project is already behind schedule. Four independent 10GBase-T ports on a PCIe bus, driven by an Intel C624 chipset, is a serious amount of copper bandwidth for a 1U or 2U ThinkSystem footprint, and it keeps your riser slots clear for GPU decode cards or additional HBAs rather than consuming them on a NIC.

Technical Highlights:

• 40 Gbps aggregate copper bandwidth: Four 10GbE ports give you enough headroom to run camera ingestion, iSCSI storage, and out-of-band management on separate interfaces without any single stream competing for bandwidth — critical on 64-channel+ 4K recording deployments.
• 9728-byte jumbo frame support: Enabling 9K MTU across your switching fabric measurably reduces CPU interrupt load on sustained high-throughput transfers; on iSCSI-connected storage arrays this translates directly to more consistent write performance under load.
• IEEE 802.3ad LACP bonding: A two-port LACP bond produces a 20Gbps logical uplink with hardware-level failover — no software watchdog needed. That's the right architecture for a recording server that can't afford a NIC port failure to take down an entire camera segment.

Deployment Considerations:

• Platform compatibility is strict — this LOM seats in SR630, SR650, SR850, SR860, and SR950 only. Verify your exact ThinkSystem model and generation before ordering; physically similar platforms may not support this LOM electrically.
• 10GBase-T at full 100-meter runs requires Cat6A — Cat6 is only reliable at 10GbE up to roughly 55 meters. If your server room patch runs are long or the cable plant is pre-existing Cat6, measure before assuming you'll get line-rate 10G at every drop.

For a ThinkSystem SR650 or SR850 deployed as a centralized 4K surveillance recording server with separate camera ingestion, storage, and management VLANs, this LOM is the right foundation — it handles all three traffic types on dedicated ports without burning a PCIe riser slot on a discrete NIC.