What the new Routers need.

[L&LD]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9773/...ated-with-storage-and-networkingspecific-skus


Intel is raising the bar for what I will be looking for in the future for NAS, Router and Switches.

2x 10GbE ports active at only 11W power requirement is very impressive. As is support for 2.5GbE and 5GbE modes as well.

5.4 times higher network performance (from Rangeley based platforms), including VPN.

And 6 times higher storage performance (of the Avoton-based platforms).


Of course, we won't see these changes immediately in the consumer space we're involved in. But it is exciting to see this progress being made all the same.

Why is the above so important for AC class performance routers? Because we are already at the point where 1GbE LAN and WAN ports limit the total throughput of the best routers (not to mention the best ISP's). The newly introduced parts above will help greatly to minimize this effect as the routers continue improving into the highest spec'd AC class products we were promised two years ago (8 antennae, 8 stream, MU-MIMO w/160MHz channel width).

I wonder how long it will take for a sub $400 router or sub $1,000 NAS to show up with the spec's in the link above?

Is anyone else interested in this?

 

[coxhaus]

I think the 2.5Gig, 5Gig and 10Gig at low power is going to be good for the home user. The 16 cores or more is not really going to help us at home. Most cores will sit unused. Maybe it will drive down the price of 4 cores and we will se some 4 core home routers.

 

[System Error Message]

The other issue is mainly cost but if intel's roadmap has been consistent they will release it at the same price as they did with the previous gen unlike other manufacturers.

Regarding VPN performance many CPUs now have hardware encryption units such as the MIPS used by some interesting routers and PPC based routers that have been around for quite a while. The important bit would be NAT and PPP acceleration although NAT may not be needed for ipv6.

 

[aublumberg]

Would be very keen in 10GbaseT router / switch with 2 - 4 10G ports. Have 10Gbps from my ISP but the provided Huawei HN8055Q only has 1 x 10GbE port. Tried 10GbE switches but they are far too noisy for a home environment (very loud fans), and there is nothing with a low port count, most have 8 - 10 or more ports. SFP port based switches are quieter but I don't see that being adopted in the home / prosumer space at this stage. where Cat 6 / 6+ / 7 copper prevails for the time being.

 

[coxhaus]

I think I want a Cisco SG500X series switch since I have had such good luck with the Cisco SG300-28 switch. The SG500X series has 10GbE support depends on which one you buy. The SG500X switches also have a routing protocol which I would like to have and I don't in the SG300 switches. I am waiting for prices to come down for a used one.

 

[System Error Message]

mikrotik crs226 has no fans but has 2 SFP+ ports.

 

[remixedcat]

Intel just needs to make router SoCs

 

[RMerlin]

Intel just needs to make router SoCs

After they're done debugging their adapter's drivers. Their track record ain't exactly stellar there so far...

 

[L&LD]

After they're done debugging their adapter's drivers. Their track record ain't exactly stellar there so far...

No, they shouldn't wait. They excel at hardware (even if software is their Achilles heel).

 

[RMerlin]

No, they shouldn't wait. They excel at hardware (even if software is their Achilles heel).

You want another Quantenna situation?

 

[sfx2000]

considering the 10:1 market of clients to AP's - better business for them to chase client cards/chipsets..

 

[remixedcat]

You want another Quantenna situation?

What's up with QT, actually that is the one SoC/Radio I haven't tested.

 

[L&LD]

You want another Quantenna situation?

Of course not. But Intel is as far from Quantenna as the moon to a mouse.

 

[remixedcat]

Seriously tell me more about the QT situation...

 

[sfx2000]

After they're done debugging their adapter's drivers. Their track record ain't exactly stellar there so far...

I would not use Intel wireless cards in an AP solution - hostapd has always been problematic with their cards compared to others..

As a base though - as the main CPU, Intel would be nice - some of the silvermont/airmont based SoC's have very good performance - put a marvell switch, and marvell or broadcom wireless NIC's (both have x86-64 drivers in good shape), and would be a good SMB/SOHO router/AP... Then it comes down to cost - quad core silvermonts (J1900 or similar) are still pretty spendy compared to ARM based SoC's, at least double the price just for the CPU, and having the discrete switch adds to the BOM..

One can get a decent x86 based FOSS based router now for less than $1000 - the PFSense SG4860 pretty much ticks on the checkboxes..

 

[RMerlin]

What's up with QT, actually that is the one SoC/Radio I haven't tested.

18 months ago, Quantenna were first to market with a SoC that supported 4x4, and promised to have MU-MIMO available in the near future. So, some manufacturers wanted to be the first to market with these features, so they released products based on hybrid solutions based on QLC/BCM and QTN.

Turns out that their SoC brought the following issues:

1) 18 months later there are still no 4x4 clients
2) 18 months later they only JUST added MU-MIMO
3) For nearly a whole year, there were numerous stability issues with Apple devices
4) For the past 4-5 months, there's been some major power drain issues with Android devices (my Nexus 9 for instance would have its battery drained by over 50% over the course of a night)
5) Their SoC runs fairly hot, and seems to have a high failure rate

Netgear gave up on them, and replaced their Quantenna-based product with a V2 release that's Qualcomm based. Linksys seems to also have given up, with next to no firmware updates, and very little marketing around their product. And Asus is getting new Quantenna updates every 2-3 months that fixes X, but causes Y, and doesn't address Z yet.

Manufacturers who went with Quantenna in an attempt to be first to market with a number of features (like MU-MIMO) ended up with devices that are getting MU-MIMO *AFTER* other products such as Qualcomm.

In short: it was a bust.

 

[sfx2000]

Let's not turn this thread into a QTN rant please - RMerlin hit all the major beefs with the QSR1000, not much more needs to be said there

 

[sfx2000]

One thing I would like to see in the SOHO/SMB space is a newer, more modern board support platform in general - one with security designed in rather than patched on after the fact with proper privilege separation, easier ways to patch, update, and manage packages...

Putting everything into a monolithic firmware image is something I would like to see go away - it's the same issue with handhelds (androids/iOS as an example)...

 

[remixedcat]

wow that sucks with QT, however with QCA I see that draining issue too when I have two APs that have roaming... however the BCMs didn't... battery didn't drain near as fast.