Riding the AI Wave: QNAP to Unveil Storage Solutions for AI, Demonstrate IoT Mini Server, and Showcase Amazing Companion Robot at CES 2018

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Jan 09, 2018, 09:00 ET

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- QNAP®, Inc. will unleash its full-throttle network-attached storage innovations around artificial intelligence (AI) at CES 2018 (Sands Convention Center, 2^nd floor Booth No. 40955), including a new AI developer package along with a GPU-accelerated NAS for AI machine learning, the next-generation single-board IoT mini server for small-scale/private IoT applications or large-scale/public IoT deployments, and a clever new companion robot that performs as an artificially intelligent assistant for home environments.

QNAP NAS: Empowered for machine learning AI for model-based services

According to a recent Gartner survey, 59% of organizations are still gathering information to build their AI strategies, while the remainder have already made progress in piloting or adopting AI solutions. QNAP has been quick to realize this important IT trend by reaching beyond storage to empower QNAP NAS solutions optimized for AI and graphics processing to efficiently facilitate AI-oriented computational tasks.

At the QNAP booth, a live demo will be presented using the high-performance TS-1277 NAS, powered by an AMD Ryzen™ 7 1700 processor, with a high-end graphics card installed to deliver the computing power required for data-intensive machine learning applications. QNAP will also debut "QuAI" - an AI developer package to quickly build, train and optimize AI models running on QNAP NAS products to demonstrate the machine's learning capabilities and exhibit solid results for specific model-based services such as image classification. Given that applications and services will incorporate AI at some level, QNAP combines its hardware and software strengths to deliver cost-efficient AI-oriented big data storage solutions. This can eventually help organizations drive more intelligent usage and identify business opportunities at every level.

"QNAP is keen to be one of the first players in the field of AI, and we are very excited to debut our NAS-based innovations for machine learning AI," said Meiji Chang, General Manager of QNAP, adding "While AI incorporates big data, big computing in the cloud, and powerful algorithms, QNAP solutions are capable of integrating those elements together to help organizations explore advanced user experiences and greater business value."

AfoBot: The companion robot designed for family and home assistance

QNAP's new companion robot "AfoBot" features voice interaction, face recognition and video calls to help foster easy communication, elder care, entertainment, and daily-life assistance. It's home-oriented design concept is not only for utility purposes but also for enhancing quality of life and greater communication opportunities at home.

Small and un-obtrusive, AfoBot is only 10.67 inch (27.1 cm) tall and weighs 1.7 kg (3.75lb), has 32 GB of local data storage, built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. It provides hands-free voice control to launch programs, commands and actions. It also supports single or four-peer video calls, making it especially easy-to-use for elderly people and connect them to family members and friends as they can use natural speech to interact with the robot. For life assistance, AfoBot supports alarm clock, weather report, automatic photo-capturing, and supports the AfoTalk mobile app for remote control for even greater convenience. AfoBot can also initiate playback of music, video and radio with simple voice commands.

"Designed in a focus for home environment, the friendly AfoBot removes the 'technology gap' barrier, throws away the keyboard, and uses natural speech to extend 'real-life' interactions that makes it easy to become part of the family and helps improve our lives in many potentially life-changing ways," said Aaron Lee, Vice President of Consumer Solution Business Division of QNAP.

QBoat Sunny: An ark to ferry IoT devices and applications

The newly launched "QBoat Sunny" has gained significant notoriety, and CES visitors will have the chance to see first-hand how this 12cm x 12cm single-board IoT mini server works with Philips® Hue for smart lighting, and with Domotz® for premiere remote network monitoring and management for professionals. Featuring Container Station and QIoT Suite Lite, QBoat Sunny allows users to seamlessly manage and monitor IoT applications, devices, and data for a streamlined and highly efficient IoT development experience.

QBoat Sunny provides unprecedented processing and storage performance with its AnnapurnaLabs AL-314 processor, 2 GB RAM and two M.2 SATA SSD slots. In addition, QBoat Sunny is equipped with three 1000BASE-T ports, two USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type A ports, and a M.2 slot for wireless module installation (2230 length). It can connect to versatile IoT development boards, devices, applications, and be used as a server for small-scale/private IoT applications. It can also serve as a fog computing node/gateway in large-scale/public IoT environments, fulfilling a wider range of IoT projects with complete functionality and an affordable price.

More about new NAS products

TS-328: QNAP's first 3-bay NAS that allows for building a RAID 5 array with the fewest disks. It is powered by a Realtek RTD1296 quad-core 1.4 GHz processor with 2GB or 4GB RAM available, supports 4K transcoding and playback, snapshots, cross-device file backup and synchronization, and a variety of multimedia applications.
TS-x28A: Entry-level NAS available in 1 and 2 bays for home users, featuring a Realtek RTD1295 quad-core 1.4 GHz processor with 1 GB RAM. It provides abundant performance for multimedia/data storage, sharing and streaming functions, complete file and data protection capabilities, and block-based snapshot support.
TS-x53Be: Cost-efficient NAS available in 2 and 4-bay, featuring Intel® Celeron® quad-core 1.5 GHz processor with 2GB or 4GB RAM available. It supports dual 4K HDMI outputs and PCIe expansion which provides fantastic long-term possibilities for the NAS to be upgraded to add features such as SSD caching and 10GbE connectivity.
TVS-x73e: High-performance NAS available in 4, 6, and 8 bays, featuring an AMD RX-421BD quad-core APU, up to 64GB DDR4 RAM, two M.2 SATA 6Gb/s SSD slots, dual 4K HDMI outputs, and hardware-assisted 4K video transcoding acceleration. It provides dual PCIe slots for flexibly installing 10GbE NICs, QM2 cards or USB 3.1 10Gbps cards to fulfill versatile business needs.

QNAP marketing and business development personnel will be on-hand to help determine product and marketing strategies for distributors and resellers to grow their business. Accredited members of the worldwide press are also invited to schedule product briefings and request evaluation units for review purposes. The availability of QuAI and the aforementioned new products will be announced separately.

About QNAP

QNAP Systems, Inc., headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan, provides a comprehensive range of cutting-edge Network-attached Storage (NAS) and video surveillance solutions based on the principles of usability, high security, and flexible scalability. QNAP offers quality NAS products for home and business users, providing solutions for storage, backup/snapshot, virtualization, teamwork, multimedia, and more. QNAP envisions NAS as being more than "simple storage", and has created many NAS-based innovations to encourage users to host and develop Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and machine learning solutions on their QNAP NAS.

SOURCE QNAP, Inc.