QNAP, today launched the QXG-25G2SF-CX6 - a 25 GbE PCIe Gen 4 (compatible with PCIe Gen 3/Gen 2) network expansion card with an NVIDIA Mellanox ConnectX -6 Lx SmartNIC. Compatible with QNAP NAS and Windows /Linux PCs, the QXG-25G2SF-CX6 provides a convenient way to upgrade your storage and workstations to benefit from next-generation networking.

With two 25 GbE ports, the QXG-25G2SF-CX6 supports up to 50 Gbps when used in a Port Trunking configuration - perfect for the most demanding storage environments that require intensive data transfer. With SR-IOV and RoCE support, where a network can be accessed directly in RAM, VMware virtualization environments can greatly benefit from reduced latency and enhanced performance and efficiency. The QXG-25G2SF-CX6 is perfectly suited for QNAP NAS solutions such as the TS-h3088XU-RP All-Flash NAS to take full advantage of the incredible bandwidth potential. You can also consider pairing the QXG-25G2SF-CX6 with a QNAP Switch to build a budget-friendly high-speed network environment.

Xilinx, Inc. (Nasdaq: XLNX), the leader in adaptive computing, today announced record revenues of $851 million for the fiscal fourth quarter, up 6% over the previous quarter and an increase of 13% year over year. Fiscal 2021 revenues were $3.15 billion, largely flat from the prior fiscal year. GAAP net income for the fiscal fourth quarter was $188 million, or $0.75 per diluted share. Non-GAAP net income for the quarter was $204 million, or $0.82 per diluted share. GAAP net income for fiscal year 2021 was $647 million, or $2.62 per diluted share. Non-GAAP net income for fiscal year 2021 was $762 million, or $3.08 per diluted share.

Additional fourth quarter of fiscal year 2021 comparisons are provided in the charts below. "We are pleased with our fourth quarter results as we delivered record revenues and double-digit year-over-year growth in the midst of a challenging supply chain environment," said Victor Peng, Xilinx president and CEO. "Xilinx saw further improvement in demand across a majority of our diversified end markets with key strength in our Wireless, Data Center and Automotive markets, the pillars of our growth strategy. Our teams have executed well and we remain focused on continuing to meet customers' critical needs.

Addressing the demands of the modern data center, Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) today announced a range of new data center products and solutions, including a new family of Alveo SmartNICs, smart world AI video analytics applications, an accelerated algorithmic trading reference design for sub-microsecond trading, and the Xilinx App Store.

Today's most demanding and complex applications, from networking and AI analytics to financial trading, require low-latency and real-time performance. Achieving this level of performance has been limited to expensive and lengthy hardware development. With these new products and solutions, Xilinx is eliminating the barriers for software developers to quickly create and deploy software-defined, hardware accelerated applications on Alveo accelerator cards.

Synology Inc. today announced two additions to its enterprise-class M.2 NVMe solid-state drive line for SSD caching, and its latest generation 10/25GbE network cards to drive forward storage and networking performance on its storage solutions. New 800 GB models for the SNV3400 M.2 2280 and SNV3500 M.2 22110 NVMe SSD lines are designed to let users with larger data sets cache more data, allowing for higher and more consistent performance improvements over HDD-based arrays. The dual-port 10GbE SFP+ E10G21-F2 compliments the existing lineup of high-speed NICs, while the dual-port 25GbE SFP28 E25G21-F2 provides customers with even faster 25GbE connectivity options.

"Our latest NAS models are built for expansion so that they can meet our customers' future storage, caching, and connectivity needs," says Peggy Weng, Synology Product Manager. "With this latest wave of releases, we build on that foundation to offer a solid ecosystem of first-party storage and networking options."

Qualcomm Incorporated today announced that its Board of Directors has unanimously selected Cristiano Amon to succeed Steve Mollenkopf as CEO, effective June 30, 2021. Mollenkopf informed the Board of his decision to retire as CEO following 26 years with the Company. Amon, who has worked at Qualcomm since 1995, is currently President of the Company. Mollenkopf will continue his employment with the Company as a strategic advisor for a period of time.

Mollenkopf, 52, became CEO in March of 2014. He began his career as an engineer and, for nearly three decades, has helped define and lead Qualcomm's strategy and technology roadmap. His work helped propel smartphones into the mainstream and made Qualcomm a leader in 3G, 4G and now 5G, and he also oversaw the expansion into new industry segments such as the Internet of Things (IoT), RF Front End and Automotive. He was also instrumental in the Company's rise as a smartphone technology supplier. In addition, Mollenkopf successfully guided the Company through a number of extraordinary circumstances and challenges and begins the CEO transition process with the Company stabilized and well-positioned to continue to grow and drive value.

ASUSTek, the leading IT Company in server systems, server motherboards and workstations today announced the new NVIDIA A100-powered server - ESC4000A E10 to accelerate and optimize data centers for high utilization and low total cost of ownership with the PCIe Gen 4 expansions, OCP 3.0 networking, faster compute and better GPU performance. ASUS continues building a strong partnership with NVIDIA to deliver unprecedented acceleration and flexibility to power the world's highest-performing elastic data centers for AI, data analytics, and HPC applications.

ASUS ESC4000A-E10 is a 2U server powered by the AMD EPYC 7002 series processors that deliver up to 2x the performance and 4x the floating point capability in a single socket versus the previous 7001 generation. Targeted for AI, HPC and VDI applications in data center or enterprise environments which require powerful CPU cores, more GPUs support, and faster transmission speed, ESC4000A E10 focuses on delivering GPU-optimized performance with support for up to four double-deck high performance or eight single-deck GPUs including the latest NVIDIA Ampere-architecture V100, Tesla, and Quadro. This also benefits on virtualization to consolidate GPU resources in to shared pool for users to utilize resources in more efficient ways.

NVIDIA today reported revenue for the first quarter ended April 26, 2020, of $3.08 billion, up 39 percent from $2.22 billion a year earlier, and down 1 percent from $3.11 billion in the previous quarter. GAAP earnings per diluted share for the quarter were $1.47, up 130 percent from $0.64 a year ago, and down 4 percent from $1.53 in the previous quarter. Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share were $1.80, up 105 percent from $0.88 a year earlier, and down 5 percent from $1.89 in the previous quarter.

NVIDIA completed its acquisition of Mellanox Technologies Ltd. on April 27, 2020, for a transaction value of $7 billion. It also transitioned its GPU Technology Conference to an all-digital format, drawing more than 55,000 registered participants, while NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang's keynote videos were viewed 3.8 million times in their first three days.

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.

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.

ZOTAC isn't just a graphics card major, but over the years developed a thriving lineup of compact desktops, mini PCs, and compact gaming desktops. The big buzzword this CES is "creator," and the company unveiled its new Inspire Studio line of compact desktops targeting creators, which are physically similar to the ZBOX Magnus. These are 5.85-liter (volume) boxes that take up minimal space on your desk, but pack serious hardware: a 9th gen Core i7 processor, GeForce RTX 2060 Super graphics, M.2 NVMe storage, and modern networking that include 802.11ax WLAN and 2.5 GbE wired Ethernet.

Next up is the ZBOX Edge. ZOTAC has been pushing the limits of compact desktops, and the ZBOX Edge MI643 is their latest creation. With an ultra-thin design that involves a 2.85 cm tall body and the ability to tuck it away behind your monitor, the MI643 packs a Core i5-10210U quad-core "Comet Lake" processor, DDR4 SO-DIMM memory, M.2 NVMe SSD storage, 802.11ac WLAN, dual 1 GbE networking, and Bluetooth 5.0. A more economical variant of this is the CI341, with 3.21 cm height, Celeron N4100 SoC, M.2 SATA storage, and SO-DIMM memory slots.

DDIO, or Direct Data I/O, is an Intel-exclusive performance enhancement that allows NICs to directly access a processor's L3 cache, completely bypassing the a server's RAM, to increase NIC performance and lower latencies. Cybersecurity researchers from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and ETH Zurich, in a research paper published on Tuesday, have discovered a critical vulnerability with DDIO that allows compromised servers in a network to steal data from every other machine on its local network. This include the ability to obtain keystrokes and other sensitive data flowing through the memory of vulnerable servers. This effect is compounded in data centers that have not just DDIO, but also RDMA (remote direct memory access) enabled, in which a single server can compromise an entire network. RDMA is a key ingredient in shoring up performance in HPCs and supercomputing environments. Intel in its initial response asked customers to disable DDIO and RDMA on machines with access to untrusted networks, while it works on patches.

The NetCAT vulnerability spells big trouble for web hosting providers. If a hacker leases a server in a data-center with RDMA and DDIO enabled, they can compromise other customers' servers and steal their data. "While NetCAT is powerful even with only minimal assumptions, we believe that we have merely scratched the surface of possibilities for network-based cache attacks, and we expect similar attacks based on NetCAT in the future," the paper reads. We hope that our efforts caution processor vendors against exposing microarchitectural elements to peripherals without a thorough security design to prevent abuse." The team also published a video briefing the nature of NetCAT. AMD EPYC processors don't support DDIO.The video detailing NetCAT follows.

QNAP Systems, Inc. today introduced the new QXG-10G2T-107, a dual-port PCI Express (PCIe) 10GBASE-T/NBASE-T NIC that supports 5 network speeds. It can be installed in a compatible QNAP NAS or a Windows /Linux PC with PCIe 2.0 x4 slots, providing organizations or individuals with a flexible and economical 10 GbE network connectivity solution.

The QXG-10G2T-107 uses the Aquantia AQtion AQC107S Ethernet controller that supports 10/5/2.5/1 Gbps and 100 Mbps network speeds. The RJ45 connector design also allows users to use existing cables. Transmission speeds can reach up to 5 Gbps when using CAT-5e cables, or up to 10 Gbps when using CAT 6 (or advanced versions) cables, unleashing the full potential of the QXG-10G2T-107.

Rivet Networks announced general availability of its Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) capable Killer WiFi 6 AX1650 WLAN network controllers for sale to PC motherboard and notebook manufacturers. The AX1650 is based on Intel "Cyclone Peak" PHY, mated with a custom firmware and drivers by Rivet Networks that are optimized for competitive online multiplayer gaming. The controller supports 2x2 MU-MIMO with 160 MHz channels, delivering up to 2.4 Gbps theoretical maximum WLAN bandwidth over the card's main PCIe gen 3.0 x1. It also supports Bluetooth 5.0 over a separate USB 2.0 connection.

Besides minimizing CPU overhead, Killer drivers provide a highly specialized QoS solution called Killer Intelligence Engine, which shapes the Internet traffic of your game and streaming software ahead of other apps that seek Internet access. Advanced Stream Detect 2.0 can detect Internet traffic from thousands of games and gaming websites to optimize your Internet access on the fly. GameFast Technology works to reduce the Wi-Fi controller's CPU overhead by up to 10 percent compared to other WLAN solutions. The controller is also DoubleShot Pro (teaming) capable. The controller ships in M.2-2230 and 1216 modules, with PCIe and USB interfaces.

Intel formally launched the Wi-Fi 6 AX200 client-segment WLAN card for notebooks and PC motherboards in the M.2-2230 and M.2-1216 form-factors, based on the "Cyclone Peak" PHY powering the Wireless AX-22260 NIC family. The card interfaces with its host over PCI-Express 3.0 x1 and USB 2.0, for the Wi-Fi and integrated Bluetooth interfaces, respectively. As a Wi-Fi 6 adapter, it supports 802.11ax over 2x2 MU-MIMO antennae, and peak bandwidth of 2.4 Gbps, with support for both the 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz bands. The Bluetooth interface is version 5.0.

Late January it was reported that Intel is looking to buy out Israeli networking hardware maker Mellanox Technology, in what looked like a cakewalk USD $6 billion deal at the time, which was a 35 percent premium over the valuation of Mellanox. Turns out, Intel hasn't closed the deal, and there are other big tech players in the foray for Mellanox, the most notable being NVIDIA. The GPU giant has reportedly offered Mellanox a competitive bid of $7 billion.

NVIDIA eyes a slice of the data-center networking hardware pie since the company has invested heavily in GPU-based AI accelerators and its own high-bandwidth interconnect dubbed NVLink, and now needs to complete its hardware ecosystem with NICs and switches under its own brand. Founded in 1999 in Yoqneam, Israel, Mellanox designs high performance network processors and fully-built NICs in a wide range of data-center relevant interconnects. Intel is by far the biggest tech company operating in Israel, with not just R&D centers, but also manufacturing sites, in stark contrast to NVIDIA, which opened its first R&D office in 2017 with a few hundred employees.

Update: NVIDIA's bid for Mellanox stands at $7 billion.

QNAP Systems, Inc. today unveiled the new dual-port 25GbE QXG-25G2SF-CX4 and 10GbE QXG-10G2SF-CX4 network NICs. Featuring Mellanox ConnectX -4 Lx SmartNIC controllers, these cards can greatly boost file transfer speeds and also support iSER (iSCSI Extension for RDMA) to optimize VMware virtualization. Both cards are PCIe Gen3 ×8 and can be installed in a Windows /Linux PC or compatible QNAP NAS.

Cloud, big data, high-speed storage, virtualization, and AI are strongly pushing 25GbE into the mainstream," said Dan Lin, Product Manager of QNAP, adding "QNAP now provides users with a scalable solution for adopting 25GbE infrastructure by leveraging the industry-leading Mellanox Ethernet solution to deliver a next-gen 25GbE NIC for NAS, servers and workstations."

During testing for our Intel Core i9-9900K review we found out that new ASUS Z390 motherboards automatically install software and drivers to your Windows 10 System, without the need for network access, and without any user knowledge or confirmation. This process happens in complete network-isolation (i.e. the machine has no Internet or LAN access). Our Windows 10 image is based on Windows 10 April 2018 Update and lacks in-built drivers for the integrated network controllers.

Upon first boot, with the machine having no LAN or Internet connectivity, we were greeted by an ASUS-specific window in the bottom right corner of our screen, asking whether we'd like to install the network drivers and download "Armoury Crate". This got us curious and we scanned the system for any files that aren't part of the standard MS Windows installation. We discovered three ASUS-signed files in our Windows 10 System32 folder, which, so it seems, magically appeared on our harddrive out of thin air. Upon further investigation we also found a new, already running, system service called "AsusUpdateCheck."

QNAP Systems, Inc. (QNAP) today unveiled the QXG-10G1T, a 5-speed PCI Express 10GBASE-T/NBASE-T NIC that supports 10GBASE-T/1000BASE-T/100BASE-TX and also 5GBASE-T/2.5GBASE-T (IEEE 802.3bz; NBASE-T) speeds. When used with Cat 6a cables, the QXG-10G1T can greatly improve network connection speeds to maximize transmission performance.

The QXG-10G1T is equipped with the Aquantia AQtion AQC107 NIC that supports 10/5/2.5/1Gbps and 100Mbps speeds. The RJ45 connector design also allows users to use their existing cables. By using Cat 5e cables, transmission speeds can reach up to 5Gbps, while using Cat 6a cables can deliver up to 10Gbps connectivity.

Aquantia Corp., a leader in high-speed, Multi-Gigabit Ethernet connectivity solutions, today announced its plan to help PC gamers and hardware enthusiasts squeeze new levels of performance out of their systems. Today, Aquantia announced a special holiday promotion with international distribution partners Arrow, WPGA and WPI, to deliver the industry's fastest Ethernet adapters - Aquantia AQtion Network Interface Cards (NICs) - to gamers and performance PC users at a giftworthy price point for a limited time. The Aquantia AQtion AQN-108 5G NIC is now available for $59.00 and the Aquantia AQtion AQN-107 10G NIC is available for an unprecedented $69.00.

The super-low latency and in-game advantage that AQtion Multi-Gigabit NICs deliver make them the perfect holiday surprise for any hardware enthusiast. The performance PC user - whether a gamer, video editing enthusiast, designer, engineer or just a tried and true geek - wants the ability to move huge volumes of digital life data seamlessly and quickly. In a home or office, that seamless capability requires a 5G or even a 10G NIC card.