Popular router manufacturer TP-Link is being investigated by US authorities over an alleged connection to cyberattacks emanating from the PRC. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Commerce, Justice and Defense departments are all investigating the company and the Commerce Department has gone as far as issuing a subpoena to TP-Link. The WSJ states that TP-Link holds close to a 65 percent market share in the US consumer router market, which puts the company in a unique market position.

The end results of the investigations, assuming either US authority finds any wrongdoings, could lead to TP-Link being banned from selling its routers in the US. A spokeswoman for TP-Link in the US issued the following statement to the WSJ "We welcome any opportunities to engage with the U.S. government to demonstrate that our security practices are fully in line with industry security standards, and to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to the U.S. market, U.S. consumers, and addressing U.S. national security risks".

Marvell Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRVL), a leader in data infrastructure semiconductor solutions, today announced that it has pioneered a new custom HBM compute architecture that enables XPUs to achieve greater compute and memory density. The new technology is available to all of its custom silicon customers to improve the performance, efficiency and TCO of their custom XPUs. Marvell is collaborating with its cloud customers and leading HBM manufacturers, Micron, Samsung Electronics, and SK hynix to define and develop custom HBM solutions for next-generation XPUs.

HBM is a critical component integrated within the XPU using advanced 2.5D packaging technology and high-speed industry-standard interfaces. However, the scaling of XPUs is limited by the current standard interface-based architecture. The new Marvell custom HBM compute architecture introduces tailored interfaces to optimize performance, power, die size, and cost for specific XPU designs. This approach considers the compute silicon, HBM stacks, and packaging. By customizing the HBM memory subsystem, including the stack itself, Marvell is advancing customization in cloud data center infrastructure. Marvell is collaborating with major HBM makers to implement this new architecture and meet cloud data center operators' needs.

AAEON's UP brand, most known for its pioneering developer board portfolio, has released the UP Xtreme i14 Edge, a Mini PC equipped with Intel Core Ultra processing, Intel Arc graphics, and 64 GB of LPDDR5 system memory. The PC is primarily geared towards applications requiring high performance computer vision, such as smart traffic monitoring and AI-assisted commercial security systems, but given the serial communication options available on the PC, the UP Xtreme i14 Edge would be just as suitable for the remote monitoring and control of industrial setups.

Outside the integrated CPU, GPU, and NPU of its Intel Core Ultra SoC, a key standout feature of the UP Xtreme i14 Edge is the fact it offers double the system memory of its predecessor, at 64 GB, as well as substantial upgrades to available display outputs. The UP Xtreme i14 Edge offers two HDMI 2.1 ports with Fixed Rate Link (FRL) technology for high bandwidth and improved display output quality. In addition to this, the system also contains one DP 1.2 port and a DP 1.4 interface via its USB Type-C port, giving users simultaneous 4K displays at 144 Hz.

AEWIN is glad to launch our new member of AEWIN Network Expansion Modules, the NCT401. Built upon Intel XL710-BM1 LAN Controller and Intel X557-AT4 PHY, it provides quad port 10GbE RJ45 with two pairs of Gen 3 bypass. It is with AEWIN standard Expansion Module form factor of PCIe x8 connection. The front-access design makes NCT401 easy to maintain/service and it is compatible with various kinds of AEWIN existing Network Appliances providing great flexibility to tailor specific configurations for target workload effortlessly.

DPDK (Data Plane Development Kit) is supported to improve package forwarding for better efficiency. Along with implementing DPDK, Dynamic Device Personalization (DDP) enables programmable packet-processing pipeline which is optimized for specific workloads on demand. With these features, performance for network edge workloads can be enhanced which is perfect for solutions of Communications, Cloud and Networking.

Following the enthusiastic market response and positive reviews of the revolutionary Flashstor series NAS, ASUSTOR Inc. has released all-new all-M.2 SSD NAS, the Flashstor Gen2 series, which includes both the Flashstor 6 Gen2 and Flashstor 12 Pro Gen2. The Flashstor Gen2 series brings radical hardware upgrades to meet the demands of enthusiasts and professionals. The Flashstor Gen2 series brand new hardware to achieve ultimate performance. The new Flashstor Gen2 series is powered by AMD's 6 nm Quad-Core Ryzen Embedded V3C14 which clocks up to 3.8 GHz. This new CPU delivers efficient, yet high performance, which along with high-speed I/O connectivity enables you to make the most out of your ASUSTOR NAS.

The Flashstor Gen2 series come with 10-Gigabit Ethernet, dual USB4 ports in an ASUSTOR first. USB4 is so fast, that it helps to fully unleash the high speeds offered by the M.2 SSDs. The USB4 ports are also compatible with Thunderbolt devices, as well as direct attach technology, extended possibilities that surpass the imagination of professionals and creators.

Zyxel Networks, a leader in delivering secure and cloud-powered networking solutions, is launching its new XGS1935 series of Lite-L3 smart managed switches to meet the growing connectivity and sustainability needs of small businesses.

The XGS1935 series delivers improvements in energy efficiency and carbon emission reductions, while providing hassle-free and affordable 10GbE migration with high-performance switching technology.

Last week, we got a preview of Microsoft's Azure production-ready NVIDIA "Blackwell" GB200 system, showing that only a third of the rack that goes in the data center is actually holding the compute elements, with the other two-thirds holding the cooling compartment to cool down the immense heat output from tens of GB200 GPUs. Today, Google is showing off a part of its own infrastructure ahead of the Google Cloud App Dev & Infrastructure Summit, taking place on October 30, digitally as an event. Shown below are two racks standing side by side, connecting NVIDIA "Blackwell" GB200 NVL cards with the rest of the Google infrastructure. Unlike Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud uses a different data center design in its facilities.

There is one rack with power distribution units, networking switches, and cooling distribution units, all connected to the compute rack, which houses power supplies, GPUs, and CPU servers. Networking equipment is present, and it connects to Google's "global" data center network, which is Google's own data center fabric. We are not sure what is the fabric connection of choice between these racks; as for optimal performance, NVIDIA recommends InfiniBand (Mellanox acquisition). However, given that Google's infrastructure is set up differently, there may be Ethernet switches present. Interestingly, Google's design of GB200 racks differs from Azure's, as it uses additional rack space to distribute the coolant to its local heat exchangers, i.e., coolers. We are curious to see if Google releases more information on infrastructure, as it has been known as the infrastructure king because of its ability to scale and keep everything organized.

It's finally here! ASUSTOR NAS devices with AMD Ryzen CPUs have finally launched! With four to ten drive bays; the Lockerstor Gen3 series arrives with both flexibility and performance. The Lockerstor Gen3 series is designed for extreme performance while maintaining extreme efficiency. In a first for ASUSTOR, the Lockerstor Gen3 features a Quad-Core AMD Ryzen Embedded SoC that boosts to 3.8 GHz. Take advantage of four to ten drive bays, and four M.2 slots for NVMe SSDs that use PCIe 4.0, dual 10GbE, dual 5GbE, and dual USB4. 16 GB of ECC DDR5-4800 memory that's expandable to 64 GB. This combination of powerful hardware is not only faster, but sets the new performance standard.

The AMD Ryzen V3C14 SoC is built on a 6 nm process for maximum performance and efficiency. At a 25 W maximum TDP, it achieves energy savings even when crunching high-performance tasks. All Lockerstor Gen3 devices are equipped with dual 10GbE and dual 5GbE network ports, with single-port 10 GbE read/write speeds reaching up to 1176 MB/s and 1018 MB/s, while SMB multi-channel performance using RAID 5 can reach up to 2005 MB/s and 1090 MB/s respectively.

Airvine, the first company to develop a multi-Gigabit-speed wireless backhaul system for indoor connectivity, today announced the general availability of its WaveCore product line. Designed to eliminate the expensive and time-consuming drilling required when confronting concrete barriers (which includes labor, permitting and inspections) to link areas with Ethernet cabling, the WaveCore system consists of a simple point to point bridge with two nodes, measuring 10.1" x 2.7" x 10.3", that are installed one on each side of a concrete wall or floor / ceiling.

The WaveCore is a PTP (point-to-point) layer 2 Ethernet bridge that operates on PoE (power over Ethernet) or a 12 V DC input. Testing with select customers earlier this year has shown results such as a 3 Gbps connection through 8" of concrete in the middle of a 54-foot link and a 4 Gbps connection through a 12" concrete wall in a garage that was in the middle of a 6-foot link.

At Computex, Realtek was showing off a new 5 Gbps switch platform which is set to bring much more affordable high-speed Ethernet switches to the consumer market. At the core of the new switch platform sits Realtek's RTL9303 which is an eight port 10 Gbps switch controller. This was released a few years ago as a low cost 10 Gbps switch IC, but as it still required third party PHYs, it never really took off. The RTL9303 is built around an 800 MHz MIPS 34Kc CPU and supports up to 1 GB of DDR3 RAM as well as 64 MB of SPI NOR Flash for the firmware.

When combined with Realtek's RTL8251B 5 Gbps PHY, the end result is a comparably low-cost 5 Gbps switch. According to Ananadtech, Realtek is expecting a US$25 price per port, which is only about $10 more per port than your typical 2.5 Gbps switch today, even though some are as little as US$10 per port. When combined with a Realtek RTL8126 PCIe based 5 Gbps NIC which retails from around US$30, 5 Gbps Ethernet looks like a very sensible option in terms of price/performance. Admittedly 2.5 Gbps Ethernet cards can be had for as little as $13, but they started out at a higher price point compared to what 5 Gbps NICs are already selling for. Meanwhile, 10 Gbps NICs are still stuck at around US$80-90, with switches in most cases costing at least US$45 per port, but often a lot more. 5 Gbps Ethernet also has the advantage of being able to operate on CAT 5e cabling at up to 60 metres and CAT 6 cabling at up 100 metres, which means there's no need to replace older cabling to benefit from it.

NETGEAR, Inc., the leading provider of innovative and secure solutions for people to connect and manage their digital lives, today expanded its WiFi 7 mesh and standalone router lines with the new Orbi 770 Tri-band Mesh System and Nighthawk RS300 Router. NETGEAR's most affordable WiFi 7 products to date build on the company's promise to provide powerful WiFi performance and secure connectivity.

WiFi 7 Changes the Game
WiFi 7 unlocks 2.4 times faster speeds than WiFi 6, delivers low latency and better handles WiFi interference for families to seamlessly enjoy next gen 4K/8K streaming, video conferencing, gaming, and more. Since the launch of NETGEAR's first WiFi 7 offerings - Nighthawk RS700 and Orbi 970 - multi-gig internet speeds have become more affordable, work from home demands have remained steady, and more devices such as AR/VR headsets or AI-focused platforms like CoPilot+ have been introduced that require extreme low latency and higher throughput.

MSI is showcasing its Roamii WiFi 7 mesh system at COMPUTEX 2024. Made to handle the increasing number of WiFi 7-supported devices and AI-accelerated applications arriving in 2024 and beyond, the Roamii series, with an integrated Qualcomm Immersive Home series, will be ready to bring an ultra-fast, easily managed WiFi network with 24/7 security protection throughout your home.

The Ultimate WiFi 7 Mesh System for Seamless Home Connectivity
MSI's newest WiFi 7 mesh system, the Roamii series, supports speeds of up to 21 Gbps thanks to extra-wide 320 MHz channels that double the bandwidth. The Qualcomm Immersive Home platform's powerful CPU drives advanced WiFi features, including 4K-QAM, Multi-RU, and MLO (Multi-Link Operation), across a mesh system that is designed to ensure its users experience seamless and uninterrupted internet access throughout their homes. Furthermore, a robust 10 Gbps wired connection is included, making Roamii series a great addition to a blazing fast home network.

ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) today announced the ROG Rapture GT-BE19000 tri-band WiFi 7 gaming router at Computex 2024. This next-generation powerhouse is designed to dominate gaming and computing experiences with ultra-fast tri-band WiFi 7 speeds of up to 19 Gbps, innovative features like Automatic Frequency Coordination, and comprehensive wired and wireless network functions.

Next-gen WiFi power
The ASUS ROG Rapture GT-BE19000 router boasts ultra-fast wireless speeds of up to 19 Gbps, thanks to innovative WiFi 7 features like 320 MHz channels, 4096-QAM, and Multi-Link Operation. It is the world's first gaming router with Automatic Frequency Coordination. AFC automatically checks the WiFi environment and chooses the least congested channel in the 6 GHz band, boosting peak transmit power by up to 63 times higher than Low Power Indoor networking devices. The GT-BE19000 also provides up to 31 Gbps of wired capacity, including dual 10 Gb Ethernet and quad 2.5 Gb Ethernet ports, ensuring strong, stable connections for building a robust local network in the new era of AI.

Today, Intel announced Thunderbolt Share, a new software solution enabling PC-to-PC experiences that fundamentally change the way users interact with two PCs. Thunderbolt Share is offered with select PCs and accessories with Thunderbolt 4 or Thunderbolt 5 ports, enabling responsive screen-sharing and fast PC-to-PC file transfers for more flexible and productive workflows.

"We are excited to continue to lead the industry in connectivity solutions with Thunderbolt technology. Thunderbolt Share delivers on our aspiration to bring innovative solutions to the market and deliver new experiences for users to get the most out of their PCs. Now users can seamlessly access one PC from another at Thunderbolt technology speeds. It truly changes how users can be more productive and efficient," said Jason Ziller, Intel vice president and general manager of the Client Connectivity Division.

Quantum computing. Drug discovery. Fusion energy. Scientific computing and physics-based simulations are poised to make giant steps across domains that benefit humanity as advances in accelerated computing and AI drive the world's next big breakthroughs. NVIDIA unveiled at GTC in March the NVIDIA Blackwell platform, which promises generative AI on trillion-parameter large language models (LLMs) at up to 25x less cost and energy consumption than the NVIDIA Hopper architecture.

Blackwell has powerful implications for AI workloads, and its technology capabilities can also help to deliver discoveries across all types of scientific computing applications, including traditional numerical simulation. By reducing energy costs, accelerated computing and AI drive sustainable computing. Many scientific computing applications already benefit. Weather can be simulated at 200x lower cost and with 300x less energy, while digital twin simulations have 65x lower cost and 58x less energy consumption versus traditional CPU-based systems and others.

AEWIN provides a series of performant Network Appliances and Edge Server powered by single AMD Zen 4c EPYC 8004 processor codenamed Siena. The latest AMD Siena CPU is produced with 5 nm manufacturing technology to have up to 64 cores (extreme density of 2CCX/CCD) and 225 W TDP with lower energy consumption compared to EPYC SP5. Siena SP6 CPU has the best performance per watt and is with the support of rich I/O and CXL 1.1.

SCB-1945 (1U) and SCB-1947A (2U) are two performant Network Appliances supporting 12x DDR5 sockets and 4x/8x PCIe Gen 5 slots for AEWIN self-design NICs with 1G to 100G copper/fiber interfaces (with/without bypass function) or other accelerators and NVMe SSDs. Both models provide the flexibility to change 2x front panel PCIe slots to 1x PCIe x16 slot for installing off-the-shelf add-on card for additional functions required. It can support 400G NIC card installed such as NVIDIA Mellanox PCIe 5.0 NIC.

MemVerge, a leader in AI-first Big Memory Software, has joined forces with Micron to unveil a groundbreaking solution that leverages intelligent tiering of CXL memory, boosting the performance of large language models (LLMs) by offloading from GPU HBM to CXL memory. This innovative collaboration is being showcased in Micron booth #1030 at GTC, where attendees can witness firsthand the transformative impact of tiered memory on AI workloads.

Charles Fan, CEO and Co-founder of MemVerge, emphasized the critical importance of overcoming the bottleneck of HBM capacity. "Scaling LLM performance cost-effectively means keeping the GPUs fed with data," stated Fan. "Our demo at GTC demonstrates that pools of tiered memory not only drive performance higher but also maximize the utilization of precious GPU resources."

As GDC, the world's largest game developer conference, returns to San Francisco, Microsoft and Xbox will be there to engage and empower developers, publishers, and technology partners across the industry. We are committed to supporting game developers on any platform, anywhere in the world, at every stage of development. Our message is simple: Microsoft and Xbox are here to help power your games and empower your teams. From March 18 - 22, the Xbox Lobby Lounge in the Moscone Center South can't be missed—an easy meeting point, and a first step toward learning more about the ID@Xbox publishing program, the Developer Acceleration Program (DAP) for underrepresented creators, Azure cloud gaming services, and anything else developers might need.

GDC features dozens of speakers from across Xbox, Activision, Blizzard, King and ZeniMax who will demonstrate groundbreaking in-game innovations and share community-building strategies. Microsoft technology teams, with support from partners, will also host talks that spotlight new tools, software and services that help increase developer velocity, grow player engagement and help creators grow. See below for the Conference programming details.

Semtech Corporation, a high-performance semiconductor, IoT systems, and cloud connectivity service provider, today announces the AirLink XR60 5G Router Solution, a breakthrough in networking technology designed to offer 5G and Wi-Fi 6 performance in an ultra-compact and ultra-rugged design for highly demanding environments.

"Celebrating this release is particularly special for us at Semtech, formerly Sierra Wireless. The AirLink XR60 isn't just any router - it's the next evolution in 5G technology. Rising 5G adoption is paving the way for a more diverse array of applications, underlining the need for versatile and easy-to-install solutions. Our customers, particularly those in public safety and utilities, have expressed a clear requirement for routers that aren't just technologically advanced, but are also small, rugged and reliable under extreme conditions. The XR60 embodies our continued commitment to these sectors, ensuring that we're not only meeting but exceeding the expectations and demands of those who rely on us the most," explains Tom Mueller, EVP and GM of IoT System Products Group at Semtech.

Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 7 is here, introducing powerful new features that boost Wi-Fi performance and improve connectivity across a variety of environments. Cutting-edge capabilities in Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 7 enable innovations that rely on high throughput, deterministic latency, and greater reliability for critical traffic. New use cases - including multi-user AR/VR/XR, immersive 3-D training, electronic gaming, hybrid work, industrial IoT, and automotive - will advance as a result of the latest Wi-Fi generation. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 7 represents the culmination of extensive collaboration and innovation within Wi-Fi Alliance, facilitating worldwide product interoperability and a robust, sophisticated device ecosystem.

Wi-Fi 7 will see rapid adoption across a broad ecosystem with more than 233 million devices expected to enter the market in 2024, growing to 2.1 billion devices by 2028. Smartphones, PCs, tablets, and access points (APs) will be the earliest adopters of Wi-Fi 7, and customer premises equipment (CPE) and augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) equipment will continue to gain early market traction. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 7 pushes the boundaries of today's wireless connectivity, and Wi-Fi CERTIFIED helps ensure advanced features are deployed in a consistent way to deliver high-quality user experiences.

Today marks the launch of not just two new incredibly well-designed NAS devices, but also two new features brand new to the ASUSTOR line of NAS devices with ARM processors. The introduction of the Drivestor 2 Pro Gen2 and Drivestor 4 Pro Gen2 come with an upgraded SoC, providing 21% more performance, which increases read and write speeds and performance for the features and apps available for the Drivestor Pro Gen2. The Drivestor Pro Gen2 series comes with 2.5-Gigabit Ethernet, hot-swappable hard drive bays, hardware transcoding, tool-free design and more! The upgraded iGPU found in the Drivestor Pro Gen2 now gives even better performance when transcoding multimedia.

The all-new Drivestor Pro Gen2 series comes with a new killer feature. Btrfs is now supported on the Drivestor Pro Gen2, a first for ASUSTOR NAS devices running ARM CPUs. Btrfs helps protect data by enabling snapshots of data at certain points in time and is able to rewind the clock should any unintentional modifications be made and restore data if needed.

Marvell Technology, a leader in data infrastructure semiconductor solutions, is enabling networking equipment and firewall manufacturers achieve breakthrough levels of performance and efficiency with two new OCTEON 10 data processing units (DPUs), the OCTEON 10 CN102 and OCTEON 10 CN103. The 5 nm OCTEON CN102 and CN103, broadly available to OEMs for product design and pilot production, are optimized for data and control plane applications in routers, firewalls, 5G small cells, SD-WAN appliances, and control plane applications in top-of-rack switches and line card controllers. Several of the world's largest networking equipment manufacturers have already incorporated the OCTEON 10 CN102 into a number of product designs.

Containing up to eight Arm Neoverse N2 cores, OCTEON 10 CN102 and CN103 deliver 3x the performance of Marvell current DPU solutions for devices while reducing power consumption by 50% to 25 W. Achieving SPEC CPU (2017) integer rate (SPECint) scores of 36.5, OCTEON 10 CN102 and CN103 are able to deliver nearly 1.5 SPECint points per Watt. The chips can serve as an offload DPU for host processors or as the primary processor in devices; advanced performance per watt also enables OEMs to design fanless systems to simplify systems and further reduce cost, maintenance and power consumption.

Artificial intelligence has been a hot topic this year, and everything is now an AI processor, from CPUs to GPUs, NPUs, and many others. However, it was only a matter of time before we saw an integration of AI processing elements into the networking chips. Today, Broadcom announced its new Ethernet switching silicon called Trident 5-X12. The Trident 5-X12 delivers 16 Tb/s of bandwidth, double that of the previous Trident generation while adding support for fast 800G ports for connection to Tomahawk 5 spine switch chips. The 5-X12 is software-upgradable and optimized for dense 1RU top-of-rack designs, enabling configurations with up to 48x200G downstream server ports and 8x800G upstream fabric ports. The 800G support is added using 100G-PAM4 SerDes, which enables up to 4 m DAC and linear optics.

However, this is not only a switch chip on its own. Broadcom has added AI processing elements in an inference engine called NetGNT (Networking General-purpose Neural-network Traffic-analyzer). It can detect common traffic patterns and optimize data movement across the chip. Specifically, the company has listed an example of the system doing AI/ML workloads. In that case, NetGNT performs intelligent traffic analysis to avoid network congestion in these workloads. For example, it can detect the so-called "incast" patterns in real-time, where many flows converge simultaneously on the same port. By recognizing the start of incast early, NetGNT can invoke hardware-based congestion control techniques to prevent performance degradation without added latency.

NVIDIA today announced that Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Lenovo will be the first to integrate NVIDIA Spectrum-X Ethernet networking technologies for AI into their server lineups to help enterprise customers speed up generative AI workloads. Purpose-built for generative AI, Spectrum-X offers enterprises a new class of Ethernet networking that can achieve 1.6x higher networking performance for AI communication versus traditional Ethernet offerings. The new systems coming from three of the top system makers bring together Spectrum-X with NVIDIA Tensor Core GPUs, NVIDIA AI Enterprise software and NVIDIA AI Workbench software to provide enterprises the building blocks to transform their businesses with generative AI.

"Generative AI and accelerated computing are driving a generational transition as enterprises upgrade their data centers to serve these workloads," said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. "Accelerated networking is the catalyst for a new wave of systems from NVIDIA's leading server manufacturer partners to speed the shift to the era of generative AI."

Linksys, an iconic Home and Small Office connectivity company, today announces its first WiFi 7 Mesh System home connectivity, Linksys Velop Pro 7. Purpose-built for the most efficient WiFi operating mode to date, the newest Linksys solution delivers incredible streaming, collaboration, and gaming experiences and can be setup in less than 10 minutes.

Linksys' fastest Mesh setup yet that's easy for all
Designed to make home connectivity simple and effortless for anyone, setup time has been reduced by 66% to less than 10 minutes so you can blanket your home with full coverage in less time than it takes to fold a load of laundry.