Wednesday, January 8th 2025
UGREEN Shows Off High-End, AI Capable NAS Devices at CES 2025
At CES this year, UGREEN was showing off two new NAS models, the NASync iDX6011 and the iDX6011 Pro, with the i in the model name seemingly denoting that both models are using Intel Core Ultra processors. The basic design builds on last years NASync models and the UGOS Pro operating system, but with several added features that may or may not appeal to the target audience. The common feature set between the two models is six 3.5-inch drive bays and a pair of M.2 slots that can be used for either storage or as a cache for the mechanical drives. Both models are expected to ship with 32 GB of RAM as standard and can be expanded to 64 GB and both of them also supports a PCIe 4.0 x8 expansion card slot, although at this point it's not clear what that slot can be used for. As with the already launched NASync models, the two new SKUs will come with the OS installed on a 128 GB SSD.
Where things get interesting is on the connectivity side of things, as both models sports dual 10 Gbps Ethernet ports, what is said to be an 8K capable HDMI port, a pair of USB 3.2 (10 Gbps) ports, two USB 2.0 ports and an SD 4.0 card slot. However, the NASync iDX6011 comes with a pair of Thunderbolt 4 ports around the front, although it's not clear if it can be used as a DAS using these ports, or if they simply act as virtual network ports. The iDX6011 Pro on the other hand, sports two USB Type-C ports around the front—as well as a small status LCD display—in favour of an OCuLink port around the back. The OCuLink port is capable of up to 64 Gbps of bandwidth, compared to 40 Gbps for the Thunderbolt 4 ports. It's currently not know what the OCuLink port can be used for, but it's more or less an external PCIe interface. It's also unknown what type of AI or LLM features the two new NASync devices will support, but it's clear they'll rely on the capabilities of the Intel processors they're built around. No pricing was announced at CES and the NASync iDX6011 is expected to launch sometime in the second quarter this year, with the NASync iDX6011 Pro launching in the third quarter. We should also note that the NASync iDX6011 Pro wasn't on display at CES, hence the renders below.
Where things get interesting is on the connectivity side of things, as both models sports dual 10 Gbps Ethernet ports, what is said to be an 8K capable HDMI port, a pair of USB 3.2 (10 Gbps) ports, two USB 2.0 ports and an SD 4.0 card slot. However, the NASync iDX6011 comes with a pair of Thunderbolt 4 ports around the front, although it's not clear if it can be used as a DAS using these ports, or if they simply act as virtual network ports. The iDX6011 Pro on the other hand, sports two USB Type-C ports around the front—as well as a small status LCD display—in favour of an OCuLink port around the back. The OCuLink port is capable of up to 64 Gbps of bandwidth, compared to 40 Gbps for the Thunderbolt 4 ports. It's currently not know what the OCuLink port can be used for, but it's more or less an external PCIe interface. It's also unknown what type of AI or LLM features the two new NASync devices will support, but it's clear they'll rely on the capabilities of the Intel processors they're built around. No pricing was announced at CES and the NASync iDX6011 is expected to launch sometime in the second quarter this year, with the NASync iDX6011 Pro launching in the third quarter. We should also note that the NASync iDX6011 Pro wasn't on display at CES, hence the renders below.
7 Comments on UGREEN Shows Off High-End, AI Capable NAS Devices at CES 2025
Technically speaking though, it's their second gen, as the first gen was PRC only.
Having said that, I'm still chuffed with my UGreen DX8800 Plus. It's still using UGOS Pro as I've tried to make a proper go of it. It basically fits my NAS needs, although, there still isn't iSCSI LUNG support and IIRC no USB / Thunderbolt passthrough to VM's or docker. I might try installing Portainer because the native docker implementation feels very arcane.
Edit:
The Minisforum 5 bay NAS prototype at CES is IMO far more interesting and better designed. It too has Oculink and USB4, however, the motherboard is on a tray with rails that makes it much easier to service.
Other uses I've seen was to add an extra networking card (such as an SFP port) or extra M2 storage.
Their current models already do 4K over HDMI and although it's a bit of a peculiar way on how the HDMI port is used, it works really well for media playback.