QNAP Launches QNA-UC5G1T: A USB 3.0 to 5 GbE Network Adapter
by Anton Shilov on May 23, 2019 10:00 AM EST
QNAP has introduced its USB 3.0 to 5 GbE adapter that can add support for a faster-than-GbE network standard to a PC or a QNAP NAS. The QNA-UC5G1T adapter is small and sleek, so it is easy to carry around or place near a NAS that needs more than one NBASE-T Ethernet ports.
The QNAP QNA-UC5G1T adapter is based on Aquantia’s single-port AQtion AQC111C 5G controller paired with a PCIe-to-USB 3.0 bridge compatible with a USB Type-C connector. The said Aquantia silicon supports an RJ-45 interface as well as various BASE-T/NBASE-T standards (including 100M, 1G, 2.5G and 5G) using contemporary copper Cat5e/Cat6 cabling that is widely used in homes and offices. The dongle is powered using a USB 3.0 interface.
QNAP’s USB 3.0 to 5GBASE-T adapter was designed for a variety of purposes. For laptop users it can enable compatibility with modern NBASE-T networks used by various enterprises. Besides, the adapter can be used to add a 5GBASE-T port (or more) to a NAS that does not have it. The manufacturer bundles USB-C to USB-A and USB-C to USB-C cables to ensure physical compatibility with a variety of devices.
When it comes to compatibility on the logical level, the QNA-UC5G1T can work with PCs running Windows 7/8/10, modern versions of macOS (manual driver installations are required), as well as Linux (core 3.10, 3.12, 3.2, 4.2, and 4.4). Besides, the adapter can work with QNAP’s NAS featuring QTS 4.3.6 (or later).
QNAP said that its QNA-UC5G1T is now available from various resellers, but never mentioned its MSRP. At press time, only one seller at Amazon.com offered the adapter for $212, but eventually pricing of the device will likely drop.
Related Reading:
- Club 3D Launches 2.5 GbE USB Type-A & USB Type-C Dongles
- Buffalo Unveils New 10GBase-T Network Card with 2.5G+5G
- QNAP Announces TS-332X Three-Bay NAS with 10 GbE
- Aquantia Launch AQtion 5G/2.5G/1G Multi-Gigabit Ethernet Cards (NICs) for PCIe
Source: QNAP
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name99 - Thursday, May 23, 2019 - link
Why do you assume this is a mobile device?I honestly expect by far the bulk of these to sell to stationary devices where people want a nice, reasonably cheap, upgrade to their PC or Mac network.
name99 - Thursday, May 23, 2019 - link
There's actually a LOT of space between 1 and 10Gb. On the switch side, an alternative to a switch with one (or two) 10Gb ports is a switch with a range of ports, maybe 2@1, 2@2.5, 2@5, 2@10. Something like Netgear MS510TX.I think it's simply a genuine fact that
- lots of people want faster than 1Gb
- but don't want to pay the costs (in dollars and power) required to convert to full 10Gb across the board.
Mixing and matching devices across your network to 2.5 and 5 makes sense for many. Of course it's not full 10Gb --- and full 10Gb is not full optical --- and full optical is not 400Gb...
You upgrade to what makes sense for your circumstances and budget.
namechamps - Thursday, May 23, 2019 - link
Well you only need an NBASE-T switch. All NBASE-T products should be backwards and forwards compatible. If you plug a 5G host into a 10G switch it runs at 5G. If you plug a 5G host into a 2.5G switch port it runs at 2.5G.DanNeely - Thursday, May 23, 2019 - link
2.5/5G are newer standards than 10G, so AFAIK older 10G switches won't recognize them and will fall back on 1G speeds.Notmyusualid - Thursday, May 23, 2019 - link
@ Dan - absolutely right. None of my 10G swtiches will do anything other than 1G or 10G. Nothing inbetween.mariush - Thursday, May 23, 2019 - link
You could have two laptops and two of these adapters, one connected to each laptop.Then, simply make the connection between them with 1-3m network cable and the network cards auto detect the pairs and work perfectly fine - if you assign to each computer a unique IP address, you got yourself a network.
In real world, it's unlikely you'll get more than 4gbps or so ... usb has overhead, pci-e has overhead, add those together and you lose a lot of bandwidth
piroroadkill - Friday, May 24, 2019 - link
Nope, you can get 2.5 & 5Gbit switches, although uncommon. Also, you can run it over old cat5e cabling, which is an absolutely ENORMOUS marketCharonPDX - Friday, May 24, 2019 - link
I have a "high end home WiFi router" (but still "home", not commercial,) that has a single 5 Gbps port along with its 8 1 Gbps ports. I also have a home server with no >1 Gbps port, no internal expansion, but it does have a USB 3 port.This will allow me to serve up multiple local machines at the same time >1 Gbps of bandwidth total, even if bandwidth to each machine individually is <1 Gbps. Which would be great. My kid (teenager) is getting in to video editing, and uses the home server for file storage. I have all our DVD/Blu-ray ripped to full quality rips on the server. As it stands now, if I try watching a Blu-ray while the kid is video editing, my movie stutters.
Skeptical123 - Thursday, May 23, 2019 - link
If they can keep the price of these under or near $100 I expect these will sell well for them. Surprisingly I don't see any other comparable product for sell on Amazon atm. There are thunderbolt 3 to 10gbe adapter for sell but they are going for ~$180 atm on Amazon.Notmyusualid - Thursday, May 23, 2019 - link
..but I expect the TB3 versions to actually do 10G well.