Expansion system utilizing thunderbolt technology?

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Permalink Reply by Dan Logan on March 30, 2011 at 6:41am

It would be a very good solution to have Intel Thunderbolt technology integrated in expansion systems.

Imagine the speed and efficiency this can bring. In time, as Technology progresses and more computer manufacturers adapt this technology, expansion chassis solutions will no longer be needed....

 

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Permalink Reply by Ed Williamson on March 30, 2011 at 7:48am

For now Apple would be the only computer manufacturer with this technology until 2012. According to Intel, Thunderbolt boards will not be added to existing computers by an expansion card as Thunderbolt chips need direct access to both the systems video and PCI express architectures.

How long or how soon will it be before Thunderbolt be a part of our a daily use technology?

Thunderbolt can’t be added to existing computers (be it laptop or desktop).
Also, according to viable source for the next year new Thunderbolt users will only be implemented to a relatively small portion of the PC market.

If there's an expansion chassis company that can implement the thunderbolt technology that would be a history in the making!!!!!A lot of things to be considered upon integrating the Thunderbolt into Expansion System, and hopefully whoever comes up with this solution will have a good market

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Permalink Reply by Edwin Ross on March 30, 2011 at 7:55am

This would solve a lot of bandwidth problems for all users who loves video-portability; connecting muti- video external graphics to laptop.

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Permalink Reply by Edwin Ross on March 30, 2011 at 9:00am

Check this baby out, Lacie already announced an external SSD-Raid-disk utilizing Thunderbolt Technology:
http://www.lacie.com/us/technologies/technology.htm?id=10039

 

This Thunderbolt technology combined with Avid MC would absolutely benefit AVID users.
Connecting to a laptops and one 24 inch iMAC, which could run two streams of 10 bit uncompressed video off of a PC based laptop. This is an ideal solution but simple, light weight laptop with just one or two of these thunderbolt interfaces, and run all your Raids, HD Monitors, PCIe devices and you'll be a happy camper.

FROM Avid
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-computers/585721-thunderbolt-t...

 

"We are very excited by the capabilities of Thunderbolt technology. To have two 10Gbps, bi-directional, multi-protocol channels in a single cable is a great step forward for high performance audio and video solutions."
– Max Gutnik, Sr. Director, Product Management, Avid Technology

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Permalink Reply by Bashville on March 30, 2011 at 9:03am

Whether or not it can be retrofitted to older machines, it still could be very useful to people with a significant investment in PCI-based hardware (hello ProTools!). Particularly those of us still looking for the holy grail of a workable laptop TDM system with high track counts.

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Permalink Reply by Ed Williamson on May 1, 2011 at 6:06pm

More discussions on this new Thunderbolt and expansion system integration, the forum is posted on xtremesystem.org

here is the direct link:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=267238&page=3

 

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Permalink Reply by William E Lemuel on March 31, 2011 at 6:16am

Yes I definitely think it should be done. But I just bought the New PE6R4-1 a few days ago!!!! Does that mean I'll have to buy another one??????

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Permalink Reply by Ed Williamson on May 1, 2011 at 6:10pm

I've seen two companies that have already  products with thunderbolt integrated in their expansion systems, I can name two companies Netstor and SonnetTech

 

TurboBox by Netstor
http://expansionsystem.com/profiles/blogs/netstor-turbobox-expansion

EchoExpress by SonnetTech
http://expansionsystem.com/profiles/blogs/echo-express-from-sonnettech

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Permalink Reply by Dan Logan on April 12, 2011 at 8:29pm

Hello fellow expansion members,

Check this out, a new PCI Express Expansion System from Sonnettech utilizing Thunderbolt Technology
http://Sonnettech.com/news/nab2011/index.html

According to Sonnettech:
Sonnet’s Echo™ Express PCIe 2.0 Expansion Chassis with Thunderbolt™ Ports enable you to connect high-performance PCI Express® 2.0 adapter cards to any computer with a Thunderbolt port. Imagine using full-size professional video capture cards, 8Gb Fibre Channel cards, 10-Gigabit Ethernet cards, and RAID controller cards with your new MacBook® Pro—the Echo Express expansion chassis makes it possible!

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Permalink Reply by Nick Datu on May 16, 2011 at 6:44am

I don't really care or it doesn't matter if an expansion enclosure is built with Thunderbolt, all I care if it works and compatibility with other peripheral devices, computer platforms and operating system.

I see a lot of peripheral devices that don't work with expansion enclosures when using with laptop pc or Macbook platforms.

I don't want to buy something that doesn't work, I hate to suffer from headaches dealing on how to troubleshoot it, calling product support, returning the unit for credit or exchange it, it is a waste of time, money and resources.

Tired of hearing that "if it doesn't work you can return it back", which is POC (piece of crap).
When a company sells something, they better guarantee that it works 100% or have an assurance that it's been tested and certified compatible with other devices.

Tired of dealing with HW and SW incompatibilities, and BS that’s all

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