With the proliferation and widespread adoption of 10GbE environments accelerating in response to the dropping prices of switches and compatible systems, Thecus Technology Corp. has taken bold steps in positioning itself as a leader in storage at this top-tier of network technology. Further bolstering its goal of 'empowering professionals' is the release of the C10GTR NIC, the follow-up to its successful C10GT card.

Powered by an advanced Tehuti TN4010 processor, the new 10Gb Ethernet PCI Express Adapter from Thecus is compatible with both x4 and x8-sized PCIe slots as well as 100M, 1G, and 10G networks. Software supported by the C10GTR includes Windows Storage Server 2012, WSS 2008 R2, Windows 8, Windows 7, Linux 2.6, Linux 3.x, VMWare 5.x, and Hyper-V. This low profile card is suitable for a wide range of products, including enterprise-targeted NAS from Thecus (such as the Top Tower, large business rackmount, and N7710/N8810U series, as well as the N7700 and N8800 PRO v2). Lastly, the C10GTR is also fully compliant with a wide range of protocols, including IEEE 802.3az, IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation, and IEEE 802.1q VLAN.

D-Link, the networking solutions provider for small business and medium enterprise IT environments, today announced a new 10 Gigabit Ethernet SFP+ Adapter (DXE-810S) designed for high-speed PCI Express bus architectures. Offering increased bandwidth, reliability and expanded functionality over standard PCI network cards, the new DXE-810S allows throughput at rates up to 20 Gbps, eliminating the bottlenecks that exist with current 32 and 64-bit PCI bus architectures.

"With the ever-increasing adoption of 10 Gigabit Ethernet in small and medium enterprise IT environments, the DXE-810S is ideal for enabling 1GbE to 10GbE migration in bandwidth-intensive workstation applications and for low-end to mid-range network appliances," said Steven Olen, director of product marketing, D-Link Systems, Inc. "With the DXE-810S, IT network administrators working with high-performance systems can eliminate bottlenecks and improve speed and reliability drastically."

PLX Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLXT), the global leader in PCI Express (PCIe) silicon and software connectivity solutions, today announced the industry's first USB-to-PCI Express solution to bridge the external connectivity gap laptop computers face when using PCIe-based solid-state drives (SSDs). The recently completed reference design platform, based on PLX PCIe 2.0-to-USB 3.0 SuperSpeed controller technology and housed in an external dongle enclosure, empowers laptop and storage vendors to leverage both USB 3.0's 5 gigabits/second (Gbps) speeds and PCIe 2.0's 5 Gbps performance. By combining two of the industry's most powerful and widely used interconnect technologies into a unified solution, end users don't face the connectivity limitations they've had to with their internal SSDs.

With this new platform, OEMs are able to create solutions that leverage laptops' USB 3.0 ports and connect effortlessly to PCIe-based, small-form-factor SSDs in external enclosures. Additionally, embedded system makers can design the PLX controller technology directly into systems in which PCIe isn't already native, creating direct PCIe-to-USB 3.0 connectivity to achieve a similarly powerful external-SSD connection.

Plextor, a leading developer of high-performance digital storage technology, announces the launch of M6 Pro and PlexTurbo at Computex 2014. The show will also mark the debut of other new consumer SSDs from Plextor, who will showcase their IPC and enterprise ranges. Debuting at Computex is the high-performance Plextor M6 Pro SATA SSD. With hardware operating at the maximum 6 Gbps throughput limit of the SATA interface, the M6 Pro sets new standards for reliability, stability, and performance. With guaranteed stability, the Plextor M6 Pro is the first consumer SSD from Plextor to pass its new ultra-strict enterprise-grade Zero Error standard of 400 units surviving 1008 hours (up from 500 hours). The introduction of DEVSLP mode reduces power consumption.

PlexTurbo is intelligent SSD caching software, which uses a combination of system RAM, the SSD DRAM cache, and SSD storage. It delivers additional storage speed for real-world applications, intelligently extends flash life, and prevents data loss if power is interrupted. By taking a more intelligent approach to RAM caching, the PlexTurbo is able to outperform competing software whist minimizing RAM use. PlexTurbo will initially only be available with the Plextor M6 Pro. Live demos will show the stability and incredible performance of Plextor's latest M6 generation of products. Attendees will experience the performance and advantages of the brand new Plextor M6 Pro with PlexTurbo. They will also have the chance to see the power of the M6e in HHHL and M.2 form factors. This SSD has already won numerous awards by bypassing the limitations of SATA to deliver highly stable RAID-like performance using cutting-edge components and the PCIe interface.

Plextor, a leading developer of high performance digital storage technology, launches the M6e M.2 PCIe Gen2 x2 SSD, an ultra-fast 2280 (80.0 mm × 22.0 mm), M.2 PCIe form factor SSD designed to deliver high performance storage to modern gaming notebooks and the new generation of M.2-compatible motherboards.

The M6e M.2 PCIe is the drive at the heart of Plextor's multi-award winning PCIe gaming SSD. With its release as a stand-alone product, consumers with M.2 PCIe slots gain access to an ultra-fast SSD with maximum sequential read speeds of 770 MB/sec and sequential write speeds of 625 MB/sec. Random 4k read speeds reach 105K, and random write speeds attain 100K, IOPS. The M6e range gives gamers RAID-like performance without the space requirements or inconvenience of setting up a RAID array.

Marvell today announced the launch of its new 88SS1083 PCI Express (PCIe) solid state drive (SSD) controller -a two-lane PCIe Gen2 SSD controller. With performance transfer rates up to 1 GB/s, Marvell's 88SS1083 controller allows SSD manufacturers to offer PCIe SSD at price parity to SATA SSD. The Marvell 88SS1083 is the industry's first controller to be fully compliant with the SATA Express standard, which leverages the most popular PCIe interface and brings in low latency, dual-lane support and 1 GB/s data transfer rate.

The new 88SS1083 controller also supports Separate RefClock with Independent SSC (SRIS), a critical feature as it eliminates the need for an expensive shielded cable for minimizing noise and instead allows for a cost-effective SATA Express cable. SATA Express host can connect either high-performance SATA Express SSDs or traditional SATA devices at similar accessory costs.

"Improving performance while maintaining low power becomes more important than ever, especially for today's ultrathin notebooks and tablets," said Rajan Pai, Vice President, Sales and Field Applications Engineering at Marvell. "The new 88SS1083 allows SSD OEMs to offer higher performance, PCIe-based SSD solutions at similar prices to SATA and is quickly becoming the controller of choice for global OEMs. Marvell is proudly pioneering a new generation of high-performance and low-power silicon solutions that is driving our industry forward."

OCZ Storage Solutions - a Toshiba Group Company and leading provider of high-performance solid state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today announced the RevoDrive 350 Series with workstation-grade design capabilities and maximum performance for professional content creation, multimedia, and extreme gaming applications. Achieving three times the performance of SATA-based SSD solutions, RevoDrive 350 is based on proven performance architecture and features 19 nm Toshiba NAND to complete OCZ's portfolio transition to in-house flash, offering a high-performance yet cost-efficient SSD solution for bandwidth-intensive client applications.

Using the PCI Express Gen. 2 x8 interface and up to four LSI SF-2282 processors to offer more available bandwidth than the previous generation, RevoDrive 350 features up to 1.8GB/s sequential speeds and up to 140,000 4K random write IOPS, delivering SSD RAID performance without the hassle in an easy-to-deploy, single card solution.

Intel's upcoming Thunderbolt host controller, codenamed "Alpine Ridge," could allow you to play God with several uncompressed Ultra HD video streams during production, if its leaked specifications hold up. The controller leverages PCI-Express gen 3.0 to double bandwidth of the interface. It will launch around the same time as Intel's next-generation Core "Skylake" processors (some time in 2015), and in a typical implementation, will be wired to the CPU's root-complex, and not that of the PCH. With PCIe 3.0 x4 or PCIe 3.0 x2 links at its disposal, the controller can push data at a staggering 40 Gbps. The link can also ferry DisplayPort, HDMI 2.0, and USB 3.0 data through its link layer. That bandwidth should enable you to plug in up to two Ultra HD displays, apart from your storage array.

The Thunderbolt connector itself will undergo a change with the arrival of Alpine Ridge. It will be slimmer (shorter) than the current connector, at 3 mm (good for Ultrabooks), and there will be adapters for backwards compatibility with older-generation Thunderbolt devices. The connector will be designed to supply up to 100W of power, so Ultrabooks based on it will do away with round DC jacks, and charge up much like tablets and smartphones do. That amount of power should also enable single-cable HDD docks and RAID boxes. There will be two main variants of Alpine Ridge, one that supports two ports over daisy-chaining, and one that supports just a single port.

Taiwanese PC audio hardware manufacturer Aim launched its flagship consumer sound card, the SC808. This full-height dual-slot (with daughterboard) sound card features PCI-Express x1 bus interface, and offers 7.1-channel analog and digital outputs. At its heart is C-Media's CMI8888, which is a native PCIe HDA controller, giving external DACs the task of handling analog outputs. The primary 2-channel headphones output is driven by a Wolfson WM8741 DAC, which offers a stellar SNR of 128 dBA. Other analog channels (center/sub, rear, sides), are handled by a C-Media CMI9882A CODEC, which offers a reasonable 100 dBA.

At the downstream of the WM8741 is the card's headphones amp circuit, featuring socketed Texas Instruments LM4562 OPAMP chips, metalized polypropylene capacitors, and a swappable pre-amp stage. The main PCB of the card holds a 6.3 mm stereo headphones jack, left and right RCA line-outs, 7.1-channel coaxial, and optical/TOSLINK SPDIF outputs. The other multi-channel analog outs are wired out by a header and ribbon cable to the daughterboard, which holds color-coded 3.5 mm jacks to all the channels. All audio portions of the card feature electrolytic capacitors (except the OPAMP stages, which feature MP caps), only the electrical/VRM portion of the card features conductive polymer (solid-state) capacitors. The card draws power from a 4-pin Molex power connector. On the software side of things, the driver provider is C-Media, with its reference Xear3D control panel. The card supports Windows 8. Slated for an April 24th launch in Japan, it's expected to be priced at 12,000¥ (US $112). Given its hardware, that's a reasonable price.

Plextor, a leading developer of high-performance digital storage technology, announces the worldwide availability of the M6e PCIe SSD, the first SSD specifically designed to meet the demanding requirements of the gaming community. The M6e will be available exclusively at NewEgg from April 7 through April 13.

The ultimate PC upgrade, the M6e delivers faster boot up speeds, shorter application load times, and improved system responsiveness for the ultimate performance. Power users can experience speeds up to 50% faster compared to regular SATA-based SSDs.

Plextor, leading developer and manufacturer of high-performance digital media and storage equipment, will reveal its new M6 Solid State Drive Solution at the upcoming 2014 edition of CeBIT in Hannover, Germany. The M6 multi-form factor lineup features Plextor's next-generation and new 2.5" M6S, the new M6M mSATA SSD and the new ultra-fast M6e M.2 PCIe SSD.

Building up to the official introduction of the highly anticipated M6 series Plextor will be continuously demonstrating the full lineup from March 10 - 14 in its showcases in the Business Center (Hall 15, Stand A18, Room 18) and at Planet Reseller (Hall 15, Stand D21, Number 66).

OCZ Storage Solutions - a Toshiba Group Company and leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today announced the introduction of the enterprise-class Z-Drive 4500 PCI Express (PCIe) SSD Series. The new Z-Drive 4500 Series delivers even higher performance in comparison to OCZ's Z-Drive R4 Series, leverages 19 nanometer (nm) MLC NAND flash, and features a more robust architectural design covering 800GB, 1.6TB and 3.2TB usable capacities.

Each model within the Z-Drive 4500 Series is integrated with OCZ's new Windows Accelerator (WXL) Software -- a flash management and caching solution for Microsoft Windows Server applications also announced by the Company today. WXL Software enables IT managers to deliver low-latency flash deployable as a local flash volume, a flash cache for HDD volumes or as a combination of both.

Gigabyte unveiled a pair of socket AM1 (FS1b) motherboards for AMD A-Series and E-Series "Kabini" APUs, and upcoming Athlon and Sempron-branded CPUs based on the same silicon. The lineup begins with the AM1M-S2H, which offers a basic mix of modern and legacy connectivity; including a combination of HDMI and D-Sub display outputs. The AM1M-S2P is based on a similar board design, but offers a lot more legacy connectivity options, including LPT and COM. Both boards offer a PCI-Express 2.0 x16, PCIe x1, and legacy PCI expansion slots, a pair of DDR3 DIMM slots, each; and are built in the narrow micro-ATX form-factor. Prices are expected to be around the $50 mark.

Super Talent Technology, a leading manufacturer of NAND Flash storage solutions, announces its RAIDDrive II Plus PCIe SSD!

Super Talent's RAIDDrive II Plus is the next generation of PCIe SSDs developed by Super Talent. It delivers top of the line read/write speeds of up to 2600/3200 MB/s with the PCIe Gen.2 x8 lane host interface and utilizes a 1 GB onboard DDR2 SDRAM cache with ECC protection. The RAIDDrive II Plus houses eight discrete SATA SSDs and comes in a custom form factor measuring 231.5 x 94.0 x 20.6 mm.

Here are the first pictures of a partner-branded GeForce GTX 750 graphics card taken apart. It reveals a couple of things - to begin with, the GM107 silicon will bring about some genuine performance per Watt improvements, despite being based on the existing 28 nm silicon fab process, and second, that cards based on the chip will be extremely cheap to build, giving NVIDIA a good chance to strengthen its position in the sub-$200 market segment. This particular card is cooled by a simple fan-heatsink that's essentially a chunk of metal with a fan latched on to it. The card relies on a simple 2+1 phase VRM, which draws power from a single 6-pin PCIe power connector. NVIDIA is expected to launch the GTX 750 and GTX 750 Ti a little later this month.

Other World Computing (OWC), a leading zero emissions Mac upgrade and storage technology company debuted the addition of the OWC Mercury Helios 2 PCIe Thunderbolt Expansion Chassis to its Helios line at CES 2014. The Helios 2 is a solution for using two single-width, or one single-width and one double-width, PCIe 2.0 adapter cards with Mac Pro (2013), Mac mini, iMac, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and other Thunderbolt-equipped computers that do not have PCIe slots due to size and/or design limitations.

More Users Can Now Tap Into Power of PCIe and Thunderbolt
Desktop workstations used to be the only way computer users could access high-performance PCIe cards made for video capture/editing, media transcoding, audio processing, and data storage. Now, with Mercury Helios or Helios 2, users of portable, all-in-one computers, and the new Thunderbolt 2 equipped Mac Pro 2013 can enjoy the functionality and productivity gains of these PCIe cards wherever their work takes them.

In addition to the HyperX Fury series, Kingston showed off one of the first client SSDs in the 2.5-inch SATA form-factor that's based on the new SandForce 3700 controller platform by LSI. The drive is unnamed as of now, but will feature in the company's SSDNow family of client SSDs. The controller features pins for both SATA 6 Gb/s and PCI-Express 2.0 x4. On drives built in the PCIe add-on card form-factor, the controller offers sequential transfer rates as high as 1,800 MB/s. SATA 6 Gb/s should certainly bottleneck it, but it could also be one of the fastest drives in its form-factor. The dual interface makes the controller ready for the SATA-Express form-factor, with backwards compatibility for SATA 6 Gb/s; as well as NGFF. Kingston didn't reveal launch details.

Plextor, a leading developer and manufacturer of high-performance digital media and storage equipment, today announced its M6 series lineup of solid-state drive solutions. The multi-form factor lineup features Plextor's next-generation 2.5" M6S and M6M mSATA SSDs, along with the introduction of two PCIe drives - the ultra-fast M6e M.2 PCI express and New HHHL PCIe card.

"We are excited to announce the new M6 series, Plextor's new generation of consumer solid-state storage products. With the addition of the M6e M.2 PCIe and SATA drives to the M6 family, Plextor now offers one of the broadest and highest-performing portfolios in the consumer space," said Darlo Perez, Director of Plextor Americas. "Plextor's latest lineup highlights our commitment to providing top-shelf quality and performance in the solid-state drive market."Images courtesy of Legit Reviews

Plextor, a leading developer of high-performance digital storage technology, announces the launch of the M6e, the first SSD specifically designed to meet the demanding requirements of the gaming community. The M6e PCIe SSD uses a new generation of high-bandwidth components to deliver smooth, uninterrupted gameplay and excels the player to get to the next level. It combines the convenience of driver-free ACHI support with the compatibility of selectable legacy BIOS or fast UEFI boot.

The Plextor M6e delivers maximum sequential read/write speeds of 770/625 MB/s and random read/write speeds of 105K/100K IOPS. The PCIe Gen2 x2 interface bypasses the SATAIII bottleneck, includes the latest server-grade multicore Marvell 88SS9183 controller with native PCI 2.0 support, and a pre-graded high performance Toshiba Toggle NAND flash.

HighPoint Technologies, a pioneering force in the storage industry for the past 18 years, announces an innovative new PCIe Slot Expansion RAID Storage Solution: The RocketRAID 2720C2 Cross-Sync RAID Solution. The RocketRAID 2720C2 Cross-Sync RAID Solution delivers Maximized Performance and Storage Capacity for systems limited to PCIe x8 host connectivity. Up to 4 storage controller cards, each with its own dedicated PCIe 2.0 x8 lane can work in unison to deliver uncompromised transfer bandwidth for workstation and server PC platforms! The compact, low-profile storage controllers are easily integrated into any industry standard storage chassis, and are ideal for space-limited environments that cannot support full-height, full-length PCIe cards.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc. a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, will showcase its leading portfolio of consumer and enterprise SSDs at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2014, located in Suite 31-235, Venetian Hotel, Las Vegas, from January 7th through 10th. As part of its presentation at CES, OCZ will unveil the next generation of SATA-based SSDs that utilize the Company's in-house controller and firmware technology.

For the enterprise, OCZ will present comprehensive SATA and PCIe based SSDs that feature virtualization and caching software to accelerate business applications and I/O access. In addition, OCZ will display the recently released Intrepid 3000 Series which delivers the Company's fastest and largest capacity SATA III SSDs to date and features advanced flash management and endurance capabilities that extend NAND flash life and enhance drive reliability while delivering up to five times faster sustained performance than OCZ's previous generation.

Mushkin Enhanced MFG, an industry-leading designer and manufacturer of high-performance and mission-critical computer products, has announced that the company will unveil and demonstrate several new product models at CES 2014 at their 1,800 square foot suite, where they will showcase their entire lineup of next generation products.

On-site presentations will be held to introduce the new and coming product lines. Mushkin representatives from the product, sales, and global teams will be on hand to answer any questions regarding these new and upcoming products for the digital home, office, and beyond.

Other World Computing (OWC), the world's leading destination for cutting-edge Mac and PC upgrades and accessories, today announced lower pricing for the OWC Mercury Accelsior_E2, a Mac and PC-bootable, high-performance PCIe SSD card that features up to 960GB of SSD capacity, up to 820MB/s of sustained data performance and external storage expansion with two 6Gb/s eSATA interface ports. Built to exceed the demanding needs of video editing and creative professionals, the Mercury Accelsior_E2 offers the best combination of speed, capacity, connectivity for simultaneous internal and external storage performance and value. OWC will be showcasing the Accelsior at CES 2014, Booth #30472, in Las Vegas January 7-10, 2014.

In addition to debuting its Gamer Series graphics cards with one based on the GeForce GTX 760, Galaxy formally launched the GeForce GTX 780 Ti Hall of Fame (HOF). Based on a board design that's identical that of the GeForce GTX 780 HOF, including its signature white-colored PCB, and triple-slot Hall of Fame cooling solution that features a large aluminium fin heatsink that relies on 8 mm-thick nickel-plated copper heat pipes; the card is said to feature a large factory-overclock, although Galaxy hasn't finalized it. The card draws power from a pair of 8-pin PCIe power connectors, and on the GTX 780 HOF, conditions it using a 10-phase VRM, which uses CHiL CHL8318 controller, IR3550 PowIRstage DrMOS chips, and a total current output capability of 480A. Galaxy claims that the GTX 780 Ti HOF will be the highest performing GTX 780 Ti out of the box.

PCI-SIG, the organization responsible for the widely adopted PCI Express (PCIe) industry-standard input/output (I/O) technology, today announced the release of the PCIe M.2 Specification Revision 1.0 to its members. A next-generation form factor for ultra-light and thin platforms, the latest M.2 architecture increases design flexibility to support high-end performance and enhanced data rates for power-constrained platforms. In addition, it enables the higher integration of functions onto a single form factor module solution.

As a natural progression from PCIe Mini Card and PCIe Half Mini Card, the smaller M.2 form factor is designed to meet future market requirements for applications in thin mobile platforms, such as tablets, portable gaming devices, smartphones and devices requiring SSDs. Its extensible design provides scalability for multiple technologies and host interfaces, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, SSD and WWAN.