Thecus Launches Two New 10GbE Network Interface Cards

The network speeds that we’ve been using have more or less been the same for the past many many years, 1 Gbps, but that simply doesn’t always cut it. We can trunk and aggregate multiple ports to get a better overall performance, but a single connection still won’t go past that limit and that is where 10 Gbps cards come into play. So far there has been a very limited amount of cards, devices, and switches available, but that’s hopefully something that will change soon. I’ve personally already tested some of these 10 Gbps equipment here at eTeknix, and as such it’s a pleasure to see more of these kinds of devices hit the market.

The latest NIC add-in cards in this category come from a somewhat unexpected company, Thecus, but then again, it’s not like they don’t have experience in this field. You might recall the N7770-10G NAS that we reviewed here quite a while ago. This time, however, it isn’t a NAS or other similar device that we see Thecus introduce, but instead two new Network Interface Cards, or NIC for short. Okay, honestly they don’t fully come from Thecus, although they are the ones bringing them to the market. The two new cards are developed and manufactured by the Ennoconn group of which Thecus also is a part now since they acquired 60% of the stake in the company.

Both these new cards come with dual 10 Gbps interface and there isn’t that much difference between the two in sense of performance – but there is a difference when it comes to connection type and controller used. The first is the C10GI540T2 card which is powered by Intel’s X540 controller chip and comes with dual 10GBase-T Ethernet RJ-45 connectors while the second card is the C10GI599F2 which is powered by Intel’s 82599ES controller chip which allows greater compatibility with optical and copper links through dual 10GBase-SFP+ connectors.

The C10GI540T2 and C10GI599F2 are expertly designed to increase connectivity with a small footprint while offering an excellent price performance ratio. With lower cost and power, it provides the perfect solution to equip your business with 10GbE capability. These NICs are a game changer for businesses that require high-speed backup and data transfer for an ever-growing amount of data, further bolstering Thecus’ ethos of ‘empowering professionals’.

It is about time that our current 1 Gbps connections also get replaced at in home environments, so let us hope that we’ll soon see switches for home users too which are capable of these better speeds.