SmallNetBuilder's CES 2009 Wrap Up

[beq]

With QNAP, street prices seem to hover around the MSRP? So I guess the diskless 8-bay QNAP TS-809 Pro (Core 2 Duo) should sell for the full $1700 MSRP on the street. Just as the 6-bay QNAP TS-639 Pro (Atom) is selling for the $1100 MSRP.

For comparison the 6-bay ReadyNAS Pro Business Edition street pricing starts under $1700 for the 1.5TB (3 x 500GB) base model. The diskless and reduced-feature Pioneer Edition as was reported here should have street pricing around $1200.

Decision, decision...

I wonder if 2TB HDDs will be available when the 8-bay TS-809 Pro comes out (perhaps part of Seagate's new Barracuda 7200.12 series, assuming they've fixed the problems with their current 1.5TB drives).

 

[geo]

So, no new dual-band routers announced at CES? Criminy. Given the state of dual-band 802.11n right now that is a major disappointment. One could hardly claim that the tech has matured and thus doesn't need new and better products!

I begin to wonder if the push to move networking to the 5GHz band is going to fizzle out and die.

 

[jdabbs]

Linksys has a new simultaneous dual band router, the WRT400N, on the way but it isn't positioned to replace the 610N.

 

[thiggins]

So, no new dual-band routers announced at CES?

NETGEAR announced WNDR3700 RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router and DGND3300 RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Modem Router.

Trendnet announced TEW-673GR 300Mbps Concurrent Dual-Band Wireless N Gigabit Router

The WRT400N was not announced.

 

[claykin]

And DLink announced the Xtreme N 450

http://www.dlink.com/press/pr/?prid=460

 

[thiggins]

Thanks. I had forgotten that was dual-band. Don't hold your breath on its release, though. They are still working out the technology.

 

[Enki42]

chipsets of the dualband routers

Know what chipsets the new routers will use? Say the Atheros AR9002AP or the Broadcom BCM4718 that were both announced back in June last year?

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/06-03-2008/0004824998&EDATE

http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=208401315

In partial answer to my own question the TrendNet uses the new Atheros chipset
http://trendnet.com/langen/press/view.asp?id=799
chipset info for more detail (since it seems like trendnet uses the reference designs):
http://www.atheros.com/pt/AR9002AP-4XHG.htm

says it uses 30% less power then the previous generation (not sure what product they are refering to specifically) so hopefully won't have any heat issues.

The Netgear WNDR3700 says to use a 680 MHz MIPS processor and the only wifi chipset to use that to my knowledge is the same AR9002AP as the Trendnet

 

[jdabbs]

Enki42:

The Linksys WRT400N uses the AR9002, while the WRT320N uses the BCM4717 (4718's little brother).

Netgear has a single-band BCM4718 device on the way, the WNR3500U (may also be called WNR3500 v2). The DGND3300 also uses a Broadcom chipset, but the photo quality wasn't good enough to determine which one.

The D-Link 450 Mbps router is likely to be based on the Ralink RT2883/RT2853 chipset.

Given that Atheros hasn't announced a replacement for the AR9002, and that the WNDR3700 is due this quarter, the AR9002 speculation is probably correct. Older platforms have used the AR7161, but it's unlikely Netgear would opt for them.

 

[Enki42]

If the WRT400N uses the newer higher end atheros chipset while the WRT320N uses the low end (for being simultanious dual band) of the new Broadcom chipsets then how is the 610 not being replaced? The BCM4717 chipset's processor runs at the same speed as the one in the 610 (BCM4705) so if the 400 is higher end then the 320 then the 400 should beat the 610 too. (Basically it would seem like the 320 is around as good at the 610 with maybe less memory to keep prices down but the 400 should be the best from linksys for dual band)

Going by trends I've seen, I'm guessing the Trendnet and the Dlink 450Mbps router will be the only ones to support external antennas. The Netgear one doesn't:
http://www.netgear.com/Products/RoutersandGateways/RangeMaxWirelessNRoutersandGateways/WNDR3700.aspx
And none of the current 802.11n Linksys routers have them. But then that maybe more of my bias to wanting something I can upgrade.

 

[jdabbs]

The 320N is a single radio dual-band device, so that should be enough to avoid direct competition with the 610N. The 610N has USB NAS functionality that the 400N lacks, but Linksys has some headroom available (BCM4718) should they feel a need to release a new router. I think the 400N is more of a response to the DIR-825 (incidentally, the B1 revision and the 400N share the same radios) than an effort to refresh their product lineup. Taking market share from competitors may be a bigger concern than worrying about the 400N cannibalizing sales from the 610N.

 

[mik0]

If the WRT400N uses the newer higher end atheros chipset while the WRT320N uses the low end (for being simultanious dual band) of the new Broadcom chipsets then how is the 610 not being replaced? The BCM4717 chipset's processor runs at the same speed as the one in the 610 (BCM4705) so if the 400 is higher end then the 320 then the 400 should beat the 610 too. (Basically it would seem like the 320 is around as good at the 610 with maybe less memory to keep prices down but the 400 should be the best from linksys for dual band)

Going by trends I've seen, I'm guessing the Trendnet and the Dlink 450Mbps router will be the only ones to support external antennas. The Netgear one doesn't:
http://www.netgear.com/Products/RoutersandGateways/RangeMaxWirelessNRoutersandGateways/WNDR3700.aspx
And none of the current 802.11n Linksys routers have them. But then that maybe more of my bias to wanting something I can upgrade.

Compared with BCM4705 new BCM4716/7/8 are using a new MIPS32 74K Core.
http://www.mips.com/products/processors/32-64-bit-cores/mips32-74k/index.cfm#features
It should much stronger than previous cpu core.