Qnap highlights at computex 2019

Back to our day to day, it is time to take stock and a short summary of the highlights of QNAP at COMPUTEX 2019. The NAS and network device manufacturer brand has shown us interesting products, although many of them are aimed at productivity and small business. Let's see what, from our point of view, is the most outstanding.

Index of contents

New applications and security-oriented updates

Qnap is a specialist in NAS and as such, has an advanced operating system for its management. But it also has applications that work on practically all platforms and are capable of integrating communication between multiple devices in a simple way.

The first application or better said update that we have seen is Hybrid Backup Sync 3, the backup tool aimed at hybrid NAS. QuDedup functionality has been added that allows data duplication at the source, and can also add encryption on the client side to make the entire communication process more secure against attacks. Another of its novelties is the ability to synchronize with all the computers through the cloud, accessing all the information securely through the QnapCloud and the NAS itself.

QuMagic 1.1 is a new application released, which basically replaces and updates the traditional QPhotos. In this new version, facial recognition, object and place recognition have been implemented. We just need to enter a keyword for the application to search for information in the content of the photo.

QVR Face is the third most prominent tool that has been released. Enter the ecosystem of the QVR application for surveillance and security, providing the ability for facial recognition in real time. It is intended for use in the creation of databases of people profiles, for example, to check-in at companies or to track work, departures, entries and hours worked.

PCIe Qnap GPOE network cards

Turning now to the products section, we highlight the launch of a new series of network cards under the PCIe 3.0 x1 and x4 / x8 bus of the brand.

First off, we have the Qnap GPOE-2P-R20 and the Qnap GPOE-4P-R20 that will be installed on PCIe x1 and are two small and moderate oriented cards upgrades on clients or even NAS with expansion slots. The first model features two 10/100/1000 Mb / s RJ-45 Ethernet ports and 30W PoE capacity on each port. The second model increases the number of ports to 4 and supports a total PoE of 90W to be distributed among the four ports.

The third model is Qnap GPOE-6P-R10, which works on a PCIe x4 or x8 bus and has a total of 6 RJ-45 10/100/1000 Mb / s ports. Like the other models, it also supports PoE on all of its ports, for a total of 180W between the 6 ports and with a maximum of 90W per port.

Without a doubt they are very useful solutions when we want to mount a small surveillance system from the PC or NAS in a small company and we do not have enough ethernet ports to carry it out.

The assistant for remote Wake-On-Lan QWU-100

Continuing with solutions aimed at business use, we have an interesting wizard to start computers using Wake-On-LAN.

The Qnap QWU-100 is a device capable of booting not one, but any equipment connected to a network through a router or switch that supports the WOL function. In case you do not know, it is about remotely booting a computer, starting from a state of suspension through a code or " magic packet " based on your MAC.

Thanks to this small device we will not need to create dedicated VPNs or Port Forwarding in order to establish a secure connection with these devices. We only need to connect the QWU-100 to the switch and through its integrated QuWakeUp application we can start a computer (NAS, PC, etc.) from our own Smartphone with its application or from MyQNAPCloud.

Switch + NAS Qnap Guardian QGD-1600P

And to finish we have the strong point of the brand in the form of a switch device, but adding NAS functionality, let's explain this a little better.

Qnap Guardian QGD-1600P can become an ordinary switch with the naked eye (obviously it will not come with methacrylate). In fact, it has a total of 12 GbE ports with 90W PoE function on four of these ports, and two SFP ports at 10 Gigabits / s. Furthermore, it has its own firmware, like any other switch to be managed.

But where it starts to attract more attention is in its basic hardware, an Intel Celeron J4115 processor with 4 or 8 GB of RAM is hidden under the chassis, and that is not normal in a switch. Also, next to the ports we have an LCD panel with two USB 2.0 ports, a USB 3.1 Gen1 port and an HDMI port. This is because in this left area we have NAS function thanks to two bays with capacity for HDD and SSD of 3.5 / 2.5 inches that will be managed through the QTS 4.4.1 operating system.

Clearly it is a team oriented to small businesses where you want to maximize space and functionality by acquiring a single team with good switch capacity and acceptable capabilities as dual-bay NAS.

Conclusion on QNAP products at COMPUTEX 2019

From professional review we hope to bring at least the analysis of some of these network cards or do some more in-depth review of applications. In any case, they are not products directly aimed at normal home users, but rather oriented towards productivity and professional small business environments.

PCIe cards, a switch that integrates NAS, or a generic Wake-On-LAN, are solutions that can be perfectly integrated all together in a professional environment without any problem. The new mandatory check-in legislation in companies makes QVR Face solutions gain considerable interest in this professional field to simplify the management of workers and also to become more involved in their day-to-day work.