QNAP TS-412 Turbo NAS Reviewed - Errata

[schumaku]

Dear Tim,
Nice review - but a little mistake:
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/nas/nas-reviews/31522-qnap-ts-412-turbo-nas-reviewed

The only thing I needed a peek inside for was to see what QNAP was using to get the additional SATA ports it needed. The mystery was solved when I spied a Marvell 88SX7042 PCI-e 4-port SATA-II controller on the drive bay motherboard. QNAP has used this SATA-multiplier-on-the-drive-bay-board trick before.

The Marvell 88SX7042 is not SATA-(port-)multiplier - it's a PCI Express x4 4-port SATA-II controller.

Regards,
-Kurt.

 

[chrismcpole]

Nice review. Do you think CISCO might move in and get some of these re branded? Their offerings are all-atom-based soho for now, and I was waiting for them to get some Marvell alternatives on board.

 

[thiggins]

Thanks. Kurt. Corrected.

 

[thiggins]

Nice review. Do you think CISCO might move in and get some of these re branded? Their offerings are all-atom-based soho for now, and I was waiting for them to get some Marvell alternatives on board.

Not likely. Cisco isn't particularly aggressive in this segment and I don't know why they'd want a lower price point.

Why would you want to buy from Cisco anyway?

 

[chrismcpole]

Not likely. Cisco isn't particularly aggressive in this segment and I don't know why they'd want a lower price point.

Why would you want to buy from Cisco anyway?

Longer warranty and brand loyalty are two major factors for me. Their current line is 1 year old exactly. Do you recall from your previous experience what is the lifetime for their products in this segments? Like how often do they introduces new models, considering they are re branding QNAP anyway?

Thanks

 

[claykin]

Cisco recently dumped FLIP. They have also made it clear they are looking for a buyer for Linksys.

Why do you think they are interested in continuing their play in the consumer and SMB market? Seems they want to return to their roots. Also known as $$$ priced products and $$$ priced support contracts.

If you like the QNAP product, buy from QNAP. Just make sure to buy from a reputable reseller as they are your link for after sales service. Otherwise be prepared to deal with a pain in the butt repair process (if its ever needed).

 

[chrismcpole]

Cisco recently dumped FLIP. They have also made it clear they are looking for a buyer for Linksys.

FLIP yes, but that was kinda expected, as it was out of CISCO's core network business and I followed that rumor mill started by theregister.co.uk back in mid May about CISCO looking to sell Linksys & WebEx, which never materialized (or did it?). resent rumors, (yearly July) suggest both are here to stay, and considering all consumer routers are now CISCO branded anyway, there is not much to sell really

As of their NAS division, it's SMB anyway and part of core network strategy, I don't see them dumping it either, at least it would be rather illogical, what do you think?

 

[stevech]

Funny how Cisco wants to sell Linksys (I assume, because of the too-low margins in consumer WiFi), but Cisco also buys Scientific Atlanta, a big maker of Cable TV set top boxes/DVRs, this too a low margin business. But knowing something about Cisco, it's another conglomerate of VPs with tribal (inter-divisional) warfare inside the company.

 

[chrismcpole]

Funny how Cisco wants to sell Linksys (I assume, because of the too-low margins in consumer WiFi), but Cisco also buys Scientific Atlanta, a big maker of Cable TV set top boxes/DVRs, this too a low margin business. But knowing something about Cisco, it's another conglomerate of VPs with tribal (inter-divisional) warfare inside the company.

As far as I can tell by rumors coming partially from CISCO employees, the company is not looking to sell it. Even though it has no value right now, due to re branding (same applies to SA - all newer cable boxes are CISCO branded). It appears we might see them selling some of the portfolio, but they will not abandon the market altogether like with Flip, rather just replace various brands it owns with just one...

 

[stevech]

there's quite a list of companies acquired by Cisco that then disappeared into the corporate soup.

 

[chrismcpole]

there's quite a list of companies acquired by Cisco that then disappeared into the corporate soup.

Exactly what has happened to Scientific Atlanta, and is happening to Linksys. I think when the next generation of routers is released there will be no more reference to linksys on the box. Right now it's still there, in small font, right under a huge lightened up CISCO logo..