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Service-provider Charter, announced it will be offering 802.11ax routers– a first among broadband service providers.

The newer standard, which is still in draft form and not slated to be finalized until late 2019, is designed to work better in congested areas, particularly in densely populated wireless networks that continue to grow thanks to IoT and smart devices.

Charter's announcement did not include when the 11ax router would be available or the cost of service plans that support it. But a Qualcomm-based four-stream router manufactured by Askey appeared in the FCC database in June.

As with previous new Wi-Fi standards, the potential benefits of draft 11ax routers will be limited until devices that also...

TP-Link's Deco M9 Plus brings lots of features and a third radio to the Wi-Fi mesh system party.

Continue reading...

TP-Link has announced two additions to its Kasa Smart Home product line.

TP-Link’s new Kasa Cam Outdoor Camera is built within a IP65 rated casing designed to withstand the elements, operating within temperatures ranging from -4˚F to 109˚F. The camera provides a 130° field of view at 1080p and night vision range up to 30 feet, while customizable activity zone settings and motion detection features help Kasa customers fine tune activities the camera records.

For audio, the Kasa Cam comes with push-to-talk two-way audio communication, as well as a built-in 80db alarm to deter intruders.

With free cloud storage for up to two days, content from the Kasa Cam Outdoor Camera is viewable from the Kasa Smart mobile app or smart devices like the Amazon Spot, Fire TV, or Google Chromecast, while other storage plans stretch retention time to 14 and 30 days.

Lastly, the kit includes a magnetic camera mount and mounting wall plate for additional...

The third in QNAP’s SMB-targeted 9-Bay NAS series (TS-932X is AnnapurnaLabs-based and TS-963X is AMD-based), the TS-951X sports a 7th-generation Kaby Lake 14nm Intel Celeron 3865U low-power dual-core 1.8 GHz processor and is available in either 2 GB DDR4 RAM or 8 GB DDR4 RAM flavors with both models upgradeable to 32 GB RAM.

Designed for storage tiering, the 9-bay hybrid NAS has five 3.5-inch HHD bays and four 2.5-inch slots designated for SSDs. When used with an auto-tiering solution, customers can benefit from the TS-951X’s design as it allows hot data to run off the SSDs, while putting less used cold data on the HDDs.

Interface-wise, the TS-951X also includes a 10 GbE port and a GbE port, three USB 3.0 ports, HDMI output up to 4096 x 2304, 24 Hz and an IR sensor.

Available now, the two new Qnap TS-951X tower models include:

• TVS-951X-8G: 8GB DDR4 RAM (2 x 4 GB),...

Designed for home and SOHO customers, the AS3102T v2 and AS3204T v2 are powered by Intel Celeron 1.6 GHz processors with AES-NI for encryption; a dual-core CPU with 2.16 GHz turbo for the 2-bay model, and quad-core CPU with 2.24 GHz for the 4-bay model. Each desktop model also runs on 2 GB of RAM and includes dual GbE ports with link aggregation, three USB 3.0 ports, HDMI 1.48, and an IR receiver.

Each NAS ships with the latest flavor of Asustor’s ADM OS and uses downloadable apps available from the company’s App Central repository, enhancing the NAS’ usability as an entertainment (multimedia), security (cameras) and storage (cloud hooks, backup) device. Asustor also touts that ADM 3.2’s updated EZconnect offering improves upon previous versions of its remote access utility, integrating Cloud ID as a way of securely accessing AS3102T v2 and AS3204T v2 NAS devices remotely.

Both models will be available shortly. Pricing for Asustor’s...

Asustor’s new desktop NAS line consists of the 2-bay AS4002T and the 4-bay AS4004T.

Targeting consumers, these new NASes debut two firsts from Asustor; integrated 10 GbE in a consumer NAS and first in-market to use Marvell’s Armada Cortex-A72 64-bit dual-core processor.

Additional hardware specs include 2 GB DDR4-2400 RAM, two GbE ports, and USB 3.1 ports. All three Ethernet ports can be aggregated to provide 3 Gbps total bandwidth for those who don't have 10 Gbps devices.

Designed to be tool-less, the AS4002T and AS4004T are hot-swappable NAS, using caddies to facilitate drive swaps when needed. The chassis’ internal honeycomb structure adds an additional layer of security by protecting data from physical impact.

Handling disk drives up to 12 TB in capacity, both NAS support JBOD, single drives, and RAID levels 0 and 1, while the 4-bay AS4004T adds RAID 5, 6 and 10 to it list of redundant drive configurations.

Available on Amazon,...

Open Mesh's OM5P-AC is not the way to go for an inexpensive AC1200 access point.

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The WPA3 Certification announced yesterday revealed that only one of the four mechanisms described when WPA3 was first announced earlier this year is included in the Certification.

The mandatory Simultaneous Authentication of Equals (SAE) method replaces WPA2's four-way session key generating "handshake" that was vulnerable to the KRACK attack and offers protection against dictionary attacks in general. Since it occurs only during the AP-STA authentication process, SAE doesn't significantly increase processor load.

The upshot is that this watered-down definition of WPA3 should be able to be added to devices that currently support WPA2. So rip-and-replacing all your current Wi-Fi gear to get improved security should not be necessary....

Qualcomm and Chinese "digital solutions provider" New H3C today announced H3C's WA6628 draft 802.11ac enterprise grade access point.

The WA6628 is based on Qualcomm Technologies’ IPQ8078 802.11ax chipset, which has a 5 GHz radio that supports 8 streams @ 80 MHz bandwidth or four streams with 80+80 MHz bandwidth. The 4x4 2.4 GHz radio supports up to 40 MHz bandwidth. Maximum supported link rates are 5950 Mbps in 5 GHz and 1150 Mbps in 2.4 GHz.

Also in the IPQ8078 are a 64 bit quad core ARM Cortex A53 CPU running @ 2.2 Ghz, 5 port gigabit Ethernet switch, two 1/2.5/5/10 gigabit Ethernet ports and two USB 3.0 ports.

The announcement said the WA6628 is targeted to begin shipping to customers in September 2018. No pricing was announced. H3C is demonstrating the WA6628 at Mobile World Congress Shanghai this week. The WA6628 and another draft 11ax AP, the WA6528,...

The new SMB/SOHO PoE switches, available in 8- and 16-port models, have upgradeable power budget options thanks to interchangeable power supplies. Paired along with a built-in power selector, the interchangeable power supply option gives businesses the opportunity to grow their PoE-powered networks without having to buy new switches.

These new unmanaged small form-factor PoE/PoE+ switches are:

• 8-Port PoE/PoE+ Gigabit Ethernet Unmanaged Switch with 60W PoE budget (GS108LP) — $99.99
• 8-Port PoE/PoE+ Gigabit Ethernet Unmanaged Switch with 123W PoE budget (GS108PP) — $129.99
• 16-Port PoE/PoE+ Gigabit Ethernet Unmanaged Switch with 76W PoE budget (GS116LP) — $179.99
• 16-Port PoE/PoE+ Gigabit Ethernet Unmanaged Switch with 183W PoE budget (GS116PP) — $219.99

Power options for the 8-port models include 60W, 83W, and 123W power supplies, while the 16-port models can work with 76W, 115W, and 183W power supplies that can...

The Wi-Fi Alliance yesterday formally introduced Wi-Fi CERTIFIED WPA3 wireless security, the intended replacement for the less-secure WPA2, which is supported on virtually all of today's Wi-Fi devices.

Like WPA2, WPA3 is not an IEEE standard, but a specification and certification program created by the Wi-Fi Alliance. Also like its predecessor, WPA3 comes in Personal and Enterprise flavors, the latter optionally supporting 192 bit encryption.

The Alliance offers no summary of the differences between WPA2 and WPA3. But this DarkReading post from today offers a good description of WPA3's key features. This post by Mathy Vanhoef provides much-needed details about WPA3. And...

ASUS Lyra Trio's three-stream approach to mesh Wi-Fi fails to impress.

Read on SmallNetBuilder

The new version of TP-Link's inexpensive AC access point has a lot to like.

Read on SmallNetBuilder

TP-Link’s Deco M9 Plus is a tri-band two-stream AC2200 Wi-Fi system.

The new Deco is powered by a quad-core processor, 4 GB eMMC flash and 512 MB RAM and is designed to handle up to 4500 sq. ft. of space with maximum link rates of 400 Mbps at 2.4 GHz and 867 Mbps at 5 GHz (x 2). The second 5 GHz radio is reserved for node-to-node wireless connection (backhaul). There are also two Ethernet ports and a USB 2.0 port that is not available for customer use.

The system has a built-in smart home hub, managed through the Deco App (Android and iOS). The hub is said to be able to manage smart home/IoT devices via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2 and Zigbee 1.2. Amazon Alexa and IFTTT automation is also supported.

Wireless network security for the Deco M9 Plus is provided by TP-Link’s Home Care service. Powered by Trend Micro, Home Care adds anti-virus and malware protection, malicious site blocking, parental controls, QoS as well as other protection...

The tri-band TEW-829DRU, TRENDnet’s first business class router, is an AC3000 wireless router with dual WAN Ethernet ports providing load balancing and failover modes.

Designed for SMBs, the router supports three concurrent wireless bands, two 5 GHz and one 2.4 GHz, running maximum link rates of 1733 Mbps, 867 Mbps and 400 Mbps, respectively.

"Business" features include wireless client isolation, QoS for VoIP and media streaming, SSL, IPsec, PPTP, L2TP w/IPsec VPN support and IEEE 802.1Q inter-VLAN routing.

TRENDnet also adds web content filtering to the TEW-829DRU via Router Limits, enforcing managed screen time, content filtering, browsing history tracking, internet access pausing, safe searching, and restricting screen time. Other TEW-829DRU features include online firmware updates and pre-encrypted Wi-Fi.

Interfaces built into the TEW-829DRU include two GbE WAN ports, eight GbE LAN ports, one USB 3.0 port, and a RJ-45...

Plume is moving to a subscription based system for their products in order to maintain the features which they refer to as "Active Management", though they fail to detail what that entails, and if the subscription is not paid, they claim that the products will continue to function but with reduced functionality (though no mention as to what extent).

The article also mentions that existing Plume Pod owners will be grandfathered in, but it does not detail to what extent in relation to the cloud reliant features.

The service plan is $60 per year or $200 for a lifetime plan.

While the company is very vague on what is offered and what is taken away when you don't pay up, in drawing inferences from their claims of grandfathering in older Plume Pods, we can assume that non-grandfathered plume pod devices will end up with far less functionality if the user does not pay the subscription fees.

[Ed note, the company also announced its tri-band SuperPod. Jim Salter got an exclusive sneak...

Buffalo’s new Windows Storage Server 2016 TeraStations are designed to integrate into existing Windows environments.

The WS5020 series is powered by an Intel Atom C3338 CPU with 8 GB DDR4 ECC RAM. Based on disk capacity (HDDs are included) and form factor, the WS5020s are available in five desktop and two rack-mountable models:

• WS5220DN04W6 – Desktop, 4 TB (two HDDs) and two USB 3.0 ports
• WS5220DN08W6 - Desktop, 8 TB (two HDDs) and two USB 3.0 ports
• WS5420DN08W6 - Desktop, 8 TB (four HDDs) and two USB 3.0 ports
• WS5420DN16W6 - Desktop, 16 TB (four HDDs) and two USB 3.0 ports
• WS5420DN32W6 - Desktop, 32 TB (four HDDs) and two USB 3.0 ports

• WS5420RN16S6 – Rackmount, 16 TB (four HDDs) and three USB 3.0 ports
• WS5420RN32S6 - Rackmount, 32 TB (four HDDs) and three USB 3.0 ports

The WSH5610 series is a 6-bay desktop NAS series that...

QNAP updated its TS-x32XU line of SMB-level rack-mounted NASes.

Available in 4-bay, 8-bay or 12-bay models, with single or redundant power supplies, these refreshed NASes are powered by a new 64-bit Alpine AL-324 ARMv8 Cortex-A57 quad-core 1.7 GHz processor by Annapurna Labs, and DDR4 memory. TS-x32XU series models run QNAP’s QTS operating system, which hosts a variety of useful apps downloadable from QNAP or the QTS App Center.

Aside from a PCIe 2.0 x2 slot expansion slot that can be used to add M.2 SSD storage, additional 10 GbE networking or additional USB ports, the TS-x32XU also includes two 10GbE SFP+ network ports, two Gigabit network ports, and four USB 3.1 Type A ports. Each TS-x32XU also supports snapshots, tiered storage, and RAID 50/60.

The newly updated models in the TS-x32XU line include:

Redundant power supply models:

• TS-432XU-RP: 1U, up to four...

The Wi-Fi Alliance on Tuesday announced Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Enhanced Open, a certification program that provides improved security in open Wi-Fi networks.

Wi-Fi Enhanced Open provides protection where user authentication is not desired or distribution of credentials is impractical, such as in coffee shops, airports, hotels and sports arenas.

Wi-Fi Enhanced Open provides protections against passive eavesdropping without requiring a password or extra steps to join the network. Based on the Opportunistic Wireless Encryption (OWE) standard (RFC 8110), Wi-Fi Enhanced Open provides each user with unique individual encryption that protects data exchange between a user device and the Wi-Fi network.

OWE uses some of the same underlying cryptography developed for the Simultaneous Authentication of Equals (SAE), which was previously included...

The TS-x63XU series, available in hot-swappable 4, 8, and 12-bay designs with single or redundant power supply options, are rackmount enterprise NAS devices powered by AMD’s G-Series GX-420MC quad-core 2.0 GHz processor and dual channel 4GB DDR3LSO-DIMM RAM (upgradable to 16GB).

Aside from already having four GbE interfaces, each TS-x63XU model also includes a single 10 GbE NIC to help accelerate business-related operations such as virtualization and hi-res video production.

The TS-x63XU series supports storage features such SSD caching, tiered storage allocation, and block-based snapshots, and works with VMware, Citrix, MS Hyper-V virtualization solutions that use Windows, Linux, Unix, Android VMs, as well as Docker and LXC containers.

Running QNAP’s QTS OS, the TS-x63XU series supports a variety of apps available through the QTS App Center, including cross-devices file syncing with Qsync, QIoT for IoT app development, and...