Direct-attached performance from network-attached devices is no longer a thing of storage architects' dreams. KIOXIA America, Inc. (formerly Toshiba Memory America, Inc.), is now sampling Ethernet SSDs to select partners and customers interested in validating the benefits of Ethernet attached storage to their existing Ethernet (RoCEv2) networks. KIOXIA has been working in collaboration with key industry players Marvell, Foxconn-Ingrasys and Accton to bring groundbreaking Ethernet Bunch of Flash (EBOF) technology solutions to market - and this announcement is pivotal to that endeavor.

In an ongoing quest to contain explosive amounts of data, storage capacity and bandwidth must continue to grow while processing time must decrease. An EBOF system addresses these challenges through an Ethernet fabric that can scale flash and optimally disaggregate storage from compute. The EBOF storage solution bypasses the cost, complexity, and system limitations inherent with standard JBOF storage systems, which typically include a CPU, DRAM, HBA, and switch. This accelerates applications and workloads where disaggregated low-latency, high bandwidth, highly available storage is needed - bringing greatly improved performance and lower total cost of ownership to edge, enterprise and cloud data centers.

NETGEAR, Inc., the leading provider of networking products that empower your gaming experience, has announced the much anticipated availability of the new Nighthawk Pro Gaming XR1000 WiFi 6 AX5400 router. The XR1000 couples next-gen WiFi 6 hardware with advanced DumaOS 3.0, the latest innovation in managing your network settings for optimized gameplay. DumaOS 3.0 software is purpose built for gamers to enjoy superior gameplay and smoother video streaming. This state-of-the-art software combined with the most advanced networking hardware ensures stabilization of ping and reduction of lag spikes with reliable connectivity over both wired and wireless networks.

The Nighthawk Pro Gaming XR1000 is the first WiFi 6 gaming router powered by DumaOS 3.0 gaming software. With the latest WiFi 6 technology, XR1000 is designed specifically to improve performance and reduce network latency when it comes to the gaming environment but will also enhance the overall home networking experience for every connected device. To further boost the gaming experience and give gamers the best gaming connection possible, the DumaOS 3.0 software includes new top features, such as: customizable Geo-Fencing, Ping Heatmap, Application QoS with Bandwidth Allocation, Connection Benchmark, and Traffic Controller. This new Nighthawk Pro Gaming router stands alone with its advanced list of features, which provide optimized control over the network connection while gaming or streaming, ensuring that gameplay can continue uninterrupted.

TerraMaster, a professional brand that specializes in providing innovative storage products including network-attached storage (NAS) devices, launches the TerraMaster F2-422 2-Bay Network-Attached Storage (NAS) featuring 10 Gigabit Ethernet networking. The F2-422 is the brand's latest addition to its 10 GbE NAS Series.

Designed for professional users, the F2-422's 10 GbE LAN port provides speeds of up to 10 Gb/s of high-speed bandwidth. This allows users to access and transfer data faster. With two Seagate IronWolf 4 TB SSD drives in RAID0, the F2-422 can deliver speeds of up to 647 MB/s read and up to 651 MB/s write.
The TerraMaster F2-422 comes equipped with a powerful Intel quad-core processor and 4 GB of DDR3 memory, expandable up to 8 GB (4 GB + 4 GB) memory. The F2-422 is also packed with multiple layers of data security to keep your data safe and secure from attacks and risks of data loss.

AAEON, an industry leader in Edge Computing solutions, announces the SRG-3352 Edge IoT Gateway System. The SRG-3352 offers reliable and cost saving edge network operations, with flexibility to connect edge nodes and sensors with cloud services. The SRG-3352 is powered by the Arm Cortex-A8 800 MHz RISC processor. This innovative processor reduces the energy requirements of the system, saving electricity costs and allowing the system to be deployed with solar power or battery operated. With very little heat output, the system can operate in a wide range of temperatures from 0°C up to 60°C without loss in performance.

The SRG-3352 is designed to provide a great value and cost-effective platform not only with initial investment, but also in long term costs. With rugged design and Arm processor, the system provides stable and reliable operation, reducing maintenance needs. To connect from edge to cloud, the SRG-3352 supports 3G/4G LTE as well as NB-IoT to help reduce carrier costs.

Marvell today announced an integrated set of access, aggregation and core Ethernet switch and PHY solutions that intelligently enable secure and efficient data movement throughout enterprise networks. The new portfolio is purpose-built to address the specific requirements of the borderless enterprise as mobility and cloud applications extend the boundaries of the traditional campus environment. Today's enterprise IT organizations are tasked with delivering a seamless experience - including to an ever-growing remote workforce - with zero-downtime, higher bandwidth performance for video and content sharing, and data protection and security. Marvell's unified Prestera Ethernet switch and Alaska PHY solution set is architected from the ground up with insightful telemetry, flow-aware intelligence, scalable performance and advanced integrated security technologies that set the bar in switching.

With a complete line of GE, 2.5GE, 5GE, 10GE, 25GE, 100GE and 400GE platforms, the portfolio is designed to fit a variety of network architectures at different speeds, densities and scales at small, medium and large enterprise IT organizations. This latest generation of solutions, comprised of four cutting-edge Prestera Ethernet switches and corresponding Alaska Ethernet PHYs, create a clear path to upgrade enterprise networks to multi-gigabit Ethernet in support of Wi-Fi 6 and 5G deployments. Marvell's intelligent workload management enables optimized data processing at or near the network access edge, improving the performance of hybrid cloud architectures. Insightful telemetry capabilities enable the solution to produce data that facilitates network automation and expedites forensic analytics. Advanced security features underpin trustworthiness and provide network embedded protection from ever-evolving security threats. To support emerging use cases in retail, manufacturing, hospitality, finance and education, Marvell's switching family is built with flexibility and feature richness to address the imminent needs these networks face.

D-Link this week introduced two new wireless devices to its leading network management solution, Nuclias Connect. The on-premise system elevates capabilities of internal IT teams who require reliable and total control of their organization's network. The Nuclias Connect expansion includes: AC2300 Wave 2 Access Point (DAP-2682) and Connect Hub Controller (DNH-100) that reinforce flexible and powerful offerings.

"As business networks grow in complexity and increased accessibility, advanced, easy to deploy and manage solutions are gaining industry traction. Nuclias Connect elevates today's wireless Internet connectivity for businesses, employees and guests while reducing the barrier to adopting a centrally managed networking system," said Raman Bridwell, vice president, products and services at D-Link Systems. "Organizations of various sizes, industries, and budgets benefit with the scalability of Nuclias Connect."

ASRock Rack today unveiled a pair of Socket AM4 motherboards targeted at SFF workstation and compact server builds. Both boards are based on the AMD X570 chipset, and include the X570D4U-2L2T, and the X570D4I-2T. The larger X570D4U-2L2T is built in the Micro-ATX form-factor, and comes with support for 3rd Gen Ryzen "Matisse" and "Picasso" processors (for now). The board is designed with its components and heatsinks aligned for server rack airflow. It draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS connectors, conditioning it for the CPU with a 6+2 phase VRM. The AM4 socket is wired to four DDR4 DIMM slots that supports both ECC and non-ECC UDIMMs. Expansion includes one PCI-Express 4.0 x16, a gen 4.0 x8, and a gen 4.0 x1.

Storage options on the X570D4U-2L2T include seven SATA 6 Gbps, from which one is high-powered to support DOMs; and two M.2-2280 slots with PCIe 4.0 x4 wiring, one of which even has SATA 6 Gbps wiring. Enterprise-relevant features include two 10 GbE networking interfaces driven by an Intel X550-AT2 controller, two 1 GbE interfaces handles by Intel i210-series controllers; an ASPEED IPMI+iKVM management chip that also puts out basic display; and various server-relevant legacy connectivity.

Synaptics Incorporated today announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire DisplayLink Corp., a leader in high-performance video compression technology, for $305 million in an all-cash transaction. The deal is expected to close in Synaptics' first quarter of fiscal year 2021, subject to customary closing conditions, and be financed from existing cash on hand. Synaptics expects the transaction to add approximately $94 million in annualized sales and be immediately accretive to non-GAAP gross margins, non-GAAP operating margins, and non-GAAP earnings post-close.

DisplayLink's high performance software compression technology enables universal docking and casting of high bandwidth video from any device to any display using any transport medium such as USB, Ethernet or Wi-Fi. For the Enterprise IT market, the solution supports multi-OS environments including Windows, MacOS, ChromeOS and Ubuntu Linux enabling a myriad of devices to seamlessly dock to multiple high resolution (4K, 8K) displays.

OWC, a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company and one of the world's most respected providers of Memory, External Drives, SSDs, Mac & PC docking solutions and performance upgrade kits, today announced the availability of the Thunderbolt 3 10G Ethernet Adapter with real-world speed over 900 MB/s so you can transfer a 50 GB file in under a minute, perform video editing, and live stream gaming sessions.

Connecting the OWC Thunderbolt 3 10G Ethernet Adapter to your Thunderbolt 3-equipped Mac or PC adds warp speed file transfers to your workflow. Now you can access 10GBASE-T 10Gb Ethernet networks or Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices to transfer large multimedia files at over 900 MB/s real-world speed. While improving project efficiency and workgroup collaboration with the quickest network connection available, the OWC Adapter is also backwards compatible with other Ethernet standards including 5GBASE-T, 2.5GBASE-T, 1000BASE-T, and 100BASE-Tx.

QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading computing, networking and storage solution innovator, today launched the TS-x53DU series NAS. Available in 4-bay, 8-bay and 12-bay models, the TS-x53DU series has two 2.5 GbE RJ45 ports to enable smoother multimedia playback and everyday usage. The TS-x53DU series also supports Snapshot backup and HBS (Hybrid Backup Sync) for local, off-site and cloud backup.

The TS-x53DU series are powered by Intel Celeron J4125 quad-core 2.0 GHz processors (burst up to 2.7 GHz) and support up to 8 GB DDR4 memory. With Intel AES-NI encryption and two 2.5 GbE RJ45 ports, the TS-x53DU provides users with fast and secure storage. The PCIe 2.0slot allows users to enhance core NAS functionality by installing a compatible PCIe card (such as a network card, a QM2 network/storage card for adding SSD caching/10 GbE connectivity).

Axiomtek - a world-renowned leader relentlessly devoted in the research, development and manufacture of series of innovative and reliable industrial computer products of high efficiency - is proud to introduce the NA346, a 4-LAN fanless network appliance platform designed in a small form factor. This ultra-small desktop network appliance is powered by the Intel Celeron processor N3350 (code name: Apollo Lake) featuring the lowest Thermal Design Power (TDP) of 6 W to meet the specific configurations of low-power requirement. The reliable NA346 is positioned as an entry-level SD-WAN, VPN and security gateway for industrial IoT security applications.

"The 5G network is foreseeable to transfer data with greater bandwidth, higher speed and boost the edge computing and AIoT application. The cutting-edge NA346 offers two mini-PCIe slots and SIM socket supporting 3G/4G/LTE communications and connectors to 5G modules," said Kiwi Lee, a product manager of Product PM Division at Axiomtek. "Space limitation is one of the constraints in today's industrial environment. Axiomtek's ultra-small NA346 can be easily installed in narrow spaces. Featuring fanless operation, this network security appliance is perfect to be used in noise-sensitive environments."

Cable Matters, an industry-leading supplier of connectivity solutions, today launched two USB-based Ethernet switches designed to connect up to four devices to a wired Ethernet network through USB and RJ45 Ethernet. The Cable Matters USB 3.1 to 4-port Gigabit Ethernet Adapter and the Cable Matters USB-C to 4-port Gigabit Ethernet Adapter are full-featured USB to Ethernet adapters. Both products provide Ethernet networking to a host laptop, computer, or game console that lacks a built-in Ethernet port.

What separates these adapters from typical USB to Ethernet adapters is the addition of three extra Ethernet ports. Three additional devices can connect to the adapter via Ethernet, allowing up to four devices to share a single wired Ethernet connection to a router or wall jack. The adapter doubles as a 4-port switch by connecting up to four unique devices to a wired network.

Dynics, Inc., a U.S.-based manufacturer of industrial-grade computer hardware, visualization software, network security, network monitoring and software-defined networking solutions, today announced the XiT4 Inference Server, which helps industrial manufacturing companies increase their yield and provide more consistent manufacturing quality.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being integrated into modern manufacturing to improve and automate processes, including 3D vision applications. The XiT4 Inference Server, powered by the NVIDIA T4 Tensor Core GPUs, is a fan-less hardware platform for AI, machine learning and 3D vision applications. AI technology is allowing manufacturers to increase efficiency and throughput of their production, while also providing more consistent quality due to higher accuracy and repeatability. Additional benefits are fewer false negatives (test escapes) and fewer false positives, which reduce downstream re-inspection needs, all leading to lower costs of manufacturing.

NETGEAR, the leading provider of mesh WiFi systems that power today's smart homes and small businesses, is introducing the next WiFi 6 member of the Orbi Mesh WiFi family, NETGEAR Orbi WiFi 6 AX4200 Tri-band Mesh Systems (RBK752/753). Joining the flagship Orbi WiFi 6 AX6000 Tri-band Mesh System (RBK852), this new Orbi Mesh System, with its attractive price point, is designed to make robust whole home WiFi 6 mesh accessible to more households around the globe. While accelerating the transition to the latest in WiFi technology, the new Orbi Tri-band Mesh WiFi system is available now as a two pack, router and satellite system (RBK752), and a three pack, router with two satellites (RBK753), from NETGEAR.com and other retailers.

Following on the tremendous success of the award-winning Orbi WiFi 6 AX6000 mesh system (RBK852) and the numerous WiFi 6 clients now available from phone and laptop manufacturers, the Orbi AX4200 WiFi 6 Mesh Systems join NETGEAR's industry-leading portfolio of WiFi 6 network product offerings. The two new WiFi 6 mesh systems make the ideal upgrade for the customer who wishes to get the benefits of both the WiFi performance and coverage of a tri-band mesh and the capacity to handle multiple devices with WiFi 6 for their home but at a more attractive price point. Tri-band mesh WiFi provides a network of wireless router and satellites with a dedicated data connection from router to satellite to ensure the best performance and reach through the entire home.

Belkin, the connected things division within the Belkin International and Foxconn Interconnect Technology entity, today announced the Thunderbolt 3 Dock Core. It completes Belkin's family of Thunderbolt 3 docks, including the Thunderbolt 3 Dock Pro, Thunderbolt 3 Dock Plus and the Thunderbolt 3 Dock Mini.

The Thunderbolt 3 Dock Core, the world's first Thunderbolt -certified, dual-powered dock, offers compatibility to bring the benefits of Thunderbolt 3 technology to both Mac and Windows laptops. Like the entire Belkin Dock family, it's designed for users who need fast transfer rates and a one cable solution to connect laptops to peripherals. The Thunderbolt 3 Dock Core has a small, compact footprint, reducing clutter and multiple cables on a desk.

It was just over eleven years ago in spring 2009 that Shuttle launched its very first All-in-One PC in the form of the X50. A lot has happened since then. The model range has constantly evolved and has now become an established and important part of the Shuttle XPC product family we would not want to miss. Durability thanks to it being fanless, quiet running, low maintenance and flexible use - this sums up the X50 model range, which is now entering its seventh generation with the X50V7U3.

The machines in a 15.6-inch format (39.6 cm) are aimed less at customers from the B2C sector, but more at B2B target groups in different markets. The POS segment, in which the X50V7U3 may be used as a checkout system, for example, should be highlighted in particular. It benefits here from one particular feature: The whole front with the resistive touchscreen is protected in accordance with protection class IP54. This means the X50V7U3 is protected from dust and splashing of water, which confirms its robustness.

Lenovo is giving finishing touches to the ThinkCentre M75n IoT, a fanless compact PC to be used as an IoT node, succeeding the Intel-powered M90n IoT. The new M75n is powered by an AMD Athlon Silver 3050e SoC (6 W TDP), compared to the M90n that uses a 15-Watt Core i3. The IoT box is rated for 24x7x365 operation, which makes it capable of use even as an industrial PC. The 3050e chip offers a 2-core/4-thread CPU, 1.40-2.80 GHz CPU clocks, 4 MB cache, and a basic AMD Radeon iGPU. Connectivity includes a pair of USB 3.1 gen 2 type-A, two type-C, an M.2-2280 slot with PCI-Express and SATA connectivity; an E-key slot for a WLAN module, gigabit Ethernet, and a pair of COM ports. The box measures 179 mm x 88 mm x 34.5 mm.

NVIDIA today launched the NVIDIA Mellanox ConnectX -6 Lx SmartNIC—a highly secure and efficient 25/50 gigabit per second (Gb/s) Ethernet smart network interface controller (SmartNIC)—to meet surging growth in enterprise and cloud scale-out workloads.

ConnectX-6 Lx, the 11th generation product in the ConnectX family, is designed to meet the needs of modern data centers, where 25 Gb/s connections are becoming standard for handling demanding workflows, such as enterprise applications, AI and real-time analytics. The new SmartNIC extends accelerated computing by leveraging software-defined, hardware-accelerated engines to offload more security and network processing from CPUs.

Intel's i225 "Foxville" family of 2.5 Gbps wired Ethernet controllers have a design flaw that affects performance, according to an official advisory sent by Intel out to its motherboard- and OEM PC partners (notebook- and pre-built desktop manufacturers). There are no security implications of this advisory. The i225 family of 2.5 GbE chips are being extensively implemented in upcoming motherboard, desktop and notebook designs. The i225 "Foxville" family consists of the i225-V targeted at motherboards and notebooks with Intel chipsets that have integrated MAC; while the slightly pricier i225-LM has an embedded MAC, and targeted at other platforms (extensively found in high-end and upcoming AMD motherboards).

According to the advisory, there is a variance in the inter-packet gap (IPG), the interval between data packets transmitted on the physical layer. This variance can cause packet loss, resulting in reduced throughput (i.e. a performance loss). Interestingly, the IPG variance is seen only when the PHY is networked with select kinds of 2.5 GbE compliant routers and switches. Specific models of Netgear, Juniper, and AQuantia infrastructure chipsets exhibit this variance, while those by Cisco, Huawei, Buffalo, and Aruba, don't. Intel is continuing to re-evaluate the chip with more 2.5 GbE devices, and will update the list in the slide below as needed. There is no mitigation, besides manually setting the controller to work in 1 GbE mode in Intel Network Connections driver control panel. Intel is working on a new stepping of these chips, but those will come out only in the second half of 2020, aligned with "Rocket Lake-S" entering mass-production. This slide inadvertently confirms that its next-generation Core "Rocket Lake-S" processor will enter production in 2H-2020.

The 25 Gigabit Ethernet Consortium, originally established to develop 25, 50 and 100 Gbps Ethernet specifications, announced today it has changed its name to the Ethernet Technology Consortium in order to reflect a new focus on higher-speed Ethernet technologies.

The goal of the consortium is to enhance the Ethernet specification to operate at new speeds by utilizing specifications that are developed or in development. This allows the organization to work alongside other industry groups and standards bodies to adapt Ethernet at a pace that aligns with the rapidly evolving needs of the industry. The ETC has more than 45 members with top-level promoter members that include Arista, Broadcom, Cisco, Dell, Google, Mellanox and Microsoft.

Acer today announced its new Predator Triton 500 and Acer Nitro 5 gaming notebooks. Alongside significant developments in thermal performance, both devices come with the latest 10th Gen Intel Core processors and newly announced NVIDIA GeForce RTX SUPER and GTX GPUs.

"In addition to the latest processors and GPUs, we've made exciting across-the-board updates to the Predator Triton 500 and Acer Nitro 5 this year," said James Lin, General Manager, Notebooks, IT Products Business, Acer. "Most importantly we've applied new thermal technology which keeps the devices cool so gamers can enjoy the performance improvements from the latest silicon technology."

Rivet Networks today formally launched its 2.5 Gbps Killer Ethernet E3100-series NICs targeted at gaming notebooks and motherboards. These 2.5 GbE solutions are based on Intel's i225-series "Foxville" PHY chips. The new E3100G is based on the i225-V, and is targeted at platforms that have chipset-integrated MAC (most Intel chipsets). The E3100X is based on the i225-LM, and has an integrated MAC, making it better suited for gaming notebooks with Ryzen 4000H-series processors. The software side of things is where Rivet's innovations are.

The Killer Prioritization Engine detects network traffic from games and prioritizes it. This should improve latencies when competitive gamers are also streaming on the side. Under extreme network stress (think gaming+streaming+downloads), Rivet claims the tech can improve gaming latencies by up to 3 times. Next up is GameFast tech, an optimized HSP component of the driver that reduces CPU utilization by up to 10% and the network stack's memory footprint by 20%, compared to other 2.5 GbE solutions. Lastly, there's support for DoubleShot Pro, Killer's network teaming tech that lets you combine bandwidth of your wired and wireless network interface for up to 4.9 Gbps bandwidth. The Killer Control Center 2.0 app gives you control over this and the other features.

Today Plugable is launching its first next-generation 2.5 Gigabit networking device, the Plugable 2.5 Gbps USB Ethernet Adapter (USBC-E2500). With USB-C and USB 3.0 (USB-A) connectivity included, you can quickly and affordably upgrade nearly any modern workstation or laptop with more than double the performance of a traditional Gigabit Ethernet connection.

While most Ethernet adapters only support 1 Gigabit link rates, this USB adapter supports wired speeds up to 2.5 times faster than the 1 Gbps standard when used with Cat 5e cabling (commonly found in existing network environments), and a 2.5 Gbps-capable router or switch. With 2.5 Gbps routers still somewhat rare in home environments, users who would benefit from the increased network throughput—but don't wish to yet invest in a 2.5 Gbps router or switch—can use 2 of these adapters to create a direct peer-to-peer network between 2 systems. With this increased performance, users can take advantage of advances in high-speed networking and storage technologies, without requiring a difficult or expensive setup.

Xilinx, Inc. today announced Versal Premium, the third series in the Versal ACAP portfolio. The Versal Premium series features highly integrated, networked and power-optimized cores and the industry's highest bandwidth and compute density on an adaptable platform. Versal Premium is designed for the highest bandwidth networks operating in thermally and spatially constrained environments, as well as for cloud providers who need scalable, adaptable application acceleration.

Versal is the industry's first adaptive compute acceleration platform (ACAP), a revolutionary new category of heterogeneous compute devices with capabilities that far exceed those of conventional silicon architectures. Developed on TSMC's 7-nanometer process technology, Versal Premium combines software programmability with dynamically configurable hardware acceleration and pre-engineered connectivity and security features to enable a faster time-to-market. The Versal Premium series delivers up to 3X higher throughput compared to current generation FPGAs, with built-in Ethernet, Interlaken, and cryptographic engines that enable fast and secure networks. The series doubles the compute density of currently deployed mainstream FPGAs and provides the adaptability to keep pace with increasingly diverse and evolving cloud and networking workloads.

Unlocking the full potential of 5G requires transforming network infrastructure from core to edge. As the world's leading network silicon provider, Intel is at the forefront of driving this transformation. Today, the company made a sweeping set of hardware and software announcements, including the launch of the new Intel Atom P5900, a 10 nm system-on-chip (SoC) for wireless base stations, which is a critical early deployment target for 5G networks.

"As the industry makes the transition to 5G, we continue to see network infrastructure as the most significant opportunity, representing a $25 billion silicon opportunity by 2023," said Navin Shenoy, executive vice president and general manager of the Data Platforms Group at Intel. "By offering customers the fastest and most effective path to design, deliver and deploy 5G solutions across core, edge and access, we are poised to expand our leading silicon position in this growing market."