QNAP Unveils Next-Generation TS-AI642 AI NAS: ARM SoC, NPU, and Enhanced 2.5GbE Connectivity

QNAP, the global leading innovator in network-attached storage (NAS), has announced the new TS-AI642 AI NAS. This next-gen offering is specifically engineered for AI-powered video and image recognition applications, boasting an efficient ARM SoC (System on Chip) processor and NPU (Neural network Processing Unit).

The TS-AI642 integrates the 64-bit ARM Cortex-A76/-A55 SoC octa-core processor with a 6 TOPS (tera operations per second) NPU. This setup provides substantial compute performance for image processing and analysis tasks, while offloading CPU workloads when running AI applications, leading to reduced system operation power consumption.

Moreover, the TS-AI642 supports a whopping 110 TB storage capacity by installing six 3.5-inch 22 TB hard drives in RAID 5. Its scalability extends to 350TB with a TL-D1600S QNAP storage expansion unit, facilitating the deployment of a complete AI NAS solution for video surveillance, image recognition, and face recognition applications in enterprises.

The new NAS includes a 2.5GbE port, supporting higher transmission speeds for seamless file backup/restore and media conversion operations. PCIe Gen 3 expandability is also available to enhance application potential.

In terms of performance, the TS-AI642’s built-in NPU boosts QNAP AI Core performance for high-speed face and object recognition. This upgrade, paired with QNAP’s QuMagie photo management and Qsirch full-text search engine, accelerates image recognition and text capture from images.

QNAP has not overlooked the need for real-time surveillance and analytics. The TS-AI642 comes with QVR Elite software, which supports up to 64 channels (two channels included for free), facilitating professional surveillance NAS deployment.

Further enhancing the surveillance capabilities, the TS-AI642 features dual 4K HDMI outputs. This allows for the simultaneous monitoring of surveillance or 4K high-resolution video playback on two screens, removing the need for a dedicated workstation.

On top of all these features, the TS-AI642’s ARM hardware supports NEON technology that accelerates video processing for an improved media experience. The device is also equipped with a 2.5GbE port and a PCIe slot for upgrading to 10GbE connectivity, making it a reliable host for versatile NAS applications in offices.

In summary, QNAP’s TS-AI642 AI NAS is a powerful and expandable solution that offers a cutting-edge platform for AI-powered applications, improved data management, and professional surveillance operations, all powered by an efficient ARM SoC and NPU.

For more detailed information about the TS-AI642 and other QNAP products, please visit QNAP’s official website.

 

SPECS:

TS-AI642-8G

CPU 8-core ARM Cortex 64-bit Processor ( 4-core Cortex-A76 2.2 GHz + 4-core Cortex-A55 1.8 GHz )
CPU Architecture 64-bit ARM
Graphic Processors ARM Mali-G610 MC4
Floating Point Unit
Encryption Engine
Hardware-accelerated Transcoding
Neural Processing Unit (NPU)
System Memory 8 GB on board (non-expandable)
Note: Reserves some RAM for use as shared graphics memory.
Maximum Memory 8 GB
Flash Memory 4GB (Dual boot OS protection)
Drive Bay 6 x 3.5-inch SATA 6Gb/s
The system is shipped without HDD.
For the HDD compatibility list, please visit https://www.qnap.com/compatibility/
Drive Compatibility 3.5-inch SATA hard disk drives
2.5-inch SATA hard disk drives
2.5-inch SATA solid state drives
Hot-swappable
SSD Cache Acceleration Support
Gigabit Ethernet Port (RJ45) 2
2.5 Gigabit Ethernet Port (2.5G/1G/100M) 1 (2.5G/1G/100M/10M)
5 Gigabit Ethernet Port (5G/2.5G/1G/100M) Optional via an adapter
10 Gigabit Ethernet Port Optional via an adapter
Wake on LAN (WOL)
Jumbo Frame
PCIe Slot 1
Slot 1: PCIe Gen 3 x2
USB 2.0 port 2
IR Sensor  (Optional QNAP RM-IR004 remote control)
HDMI Output 1, HDMI 1.4b
Form Factor Tower
LED Indicators Power/Status, LAN, USB, HDD1-6
Buttons Power, USB copy, Reset
Dimensions (HxWxD) 171 × 235 × 226 mm
Weight (Net) 2.92 kg
Weight (Gross) 4.51 kg
Operating Temperature 0 ~ 40˚C (32˚F ~ 104˚F)
Storage Temperature -20 – 70°C (-4°F – 158°F)
Relative Humidity 5-95% RH non-condensing, wet bulb: 27˚C (80.6˚F)
Power Supply Unit 120W adapter, 100-240V
Power Consumption: HDD Sleep Mode 14.005 W
Power Consumption: Operating Mode, Typical 33.33 W
Tested with drives fully populated.
Fan 2 x 90mm, 12VDC
System Warning Buzzer
Kensington Security Slot
Max. Number of Concurrent Connections (CIFS) – with Max. Memory 1,500

 

SOFTWARE SPECS

Operating System QTS 5.1.0
Supported Client Operating Systems
  1. Apple Mac OS 10.10 or later
  2. Ubuntu 14.04, CentOS 7, RHEL 6.6, SUSE 12 or later Linux
  3. IBM AIX 7, Solaris 10 or later UNIX
  4. Microsoft Windows 7, 8, 10 and 11

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Supported Browsers
  1. Apple Safari (latest version)
  2. Google Chrome (latest version)
  3. Microsoft Edge (latest version)
  4. Mozilla Firefox (latest version)
Supported Languages Chinese (Traditional & Simplified), Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, and Turkish
Storage Pool  
SED Storage Pool  
Maximum Pool size 308 TB
Maximum number of storage pool 128
Volume Type Thick, Thin, Static
Maximum volume size 250 TB

Note: At least 4 GB RAM is required.

Maximum number of volume 128
Maximum shared folder size 250 TB
Maximum number of shared folder 512
JBOD Expansion  
VJBOD / VJBOD Cloud  
iSCSI Service  
Fibre Channel Service  
LUN Type Thick, Thin
File-based iSCSI LUN  
Block-based iSCSI LUN  
Maximum LUN size 250 TB

Note: At least 4 GB RAM is required.

Maximum number of targets LUN 128
LUN feature
  1. LUN Mapping (LUN can be moved between iSCSI and FC)
  2. LUN Masking
  3. WWPN Aliases Import/Export
  4. FC Port Group

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Auto Tiering  

Requires minimum 2GB memory.

RAID Type
  1. 8-bay (and more): JBOD, Single, RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, 60
  2. 6-bay: JBOD, Single, RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50
  3. 4-bay: JBOD, Single, RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10
  4. 2-bay: JBOD, Single, RAID 0, 1
RAID Group  

To ensure data security, system stability, and storage performance, the maximum number of drives for a single RAID group is now 16 (applicable to RAID 5, RAID 6, RAID TP, and subgroups of RAID 50 and RAID 60). Nevertheless, users can combine multiple RAID groups into a large storage pool that contains more than 16 drives, using RAID 50, RAID 60, or RAID 10 as the RAID configuration. This enhancement will only be applied to new RAID groups. All existing RAID groups and storage systems will not be affected.

RAID Level Migration  
RAID Expansion (by adding Disk)  
RAID Expansion (by replacing bigger Disks)  
Storage Pool Expansion (by adding RAID Group)  
RAID Hot Spare Global, Local
RAID Sync/Rebuild/Scrubbing  
Internal drive EXT4
External drive EXT3, EXT4, NTFS, FAT32, HFS+, and exFAT (optional for ARM model)

Note: To use exFat in certain models you must purchase an exFAT driver license from License Center.

Disk, Enclosure Locate  
Disk S.M.A.R.T. Scan  
Disk S.M.A.R.T. Data Migration  
Ironwolf Health Management  
Secure Erase  
SSD Trim  
SSD Life Estimation  
Disk Roaming  
Disk Standby  
Volume Snapshot  
LUN Snapshot  
Maximum Snapshot (Per System) Check maximum number of snapshots of your NAS
Maximum Snapshot (Per Volume / LUN) Check maximum number of snapshots of your NAS
Minimum Snapshot Interval 5 minutes
Snapshot Retention Policy  
Self-serve Snapshot Recovery  
Application Consisted Snapshot  
Snapshot Full Clone  
Snapshot Replica / Vault  
SSD read-only Cache  
SSD read-write cache  
SSD write-only cache  
SSD Cache Maximum Size Check your QNAP NAS cache capacity and RAM requirements
SSD Cache RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10
SSD profiling tool  
External Device Management  
Mount Smart Phone (MTP)  
External RAID Device (QNAP so on) Management (External Device Mode)  
External RAID Device (QNAP so on) Management (NAS Mode)  
File Server
  1. File sharing across Windows, Mac, and Linux/UNIX
  2. Microsoft networking (CIFS/SMB)
  3. Apple networking (AFP)
  4. NFS version 3/4 services
FTP Server
  1. QuFTP
  2. FTP, SFTP and TFTP protocols
  3. FTP over SSL/TLS (explicit FTPS)
  4. FXP support
Maximum FTP connection 1024
File Station (Web)  
Object Storage  
Local user account 4,096
Local group account 512
Domain user/group account 200,000
Domain Security  
Domain Controller  
Shared folder permission  
Advanced folder permission , (AFP, CIFS/SMB, FTP, and File Station)
Windows ACL , (CIFS/SMB)
User quota  
Group quota  
Folder quota , (Snapshot shared folder)
Home folder  
Resource Monitor  
SNMP V2, V3
Network recycle bin
  1. Recover files deleted using AFP, CIFS/SMB, and File Station
  2. Automatic cleanup and file type filter
System Log & Notification Center Log recording: 3,000 event per second
Smart Fan  
Schedule on/off  
Internet protocol IPv4, IPv6
Virtual Switch  
Port trunking , (7 modes)
VLAN  
DHCP Server  
DDNS (Dynamic Domain Name Service)  
Network access protection with auto-blocking SSH, Telnet, HTTP(S), FTP, CIFS/SMB, and AFP
Security Counselor  
Malware Remover  
AES 256-bit Volume Encryption validated by FIPS 140-2 CAVP  
2-step verification  
Allow/Deny List  
Access Protection  
Service binding  
Firewall  
vSphere Web Client Plug-in  
VMware vSphere VAAI for iSCSI  
VMware vSphere VAAI for NAS  
Windows ODX  
Windows/VMware Snapshot Agent  
HTTP/HTTPS Connections TLS 1.0/1.1/1.2/1.3
Supports WebDAV Connection  
Supports Virtual Hosts 32
Qsync  

Note: At least 1 GB RAM is required.

[Qsync] Management Mode User customization, Central
[Qsync] Qsync client supported platforms Windows, macOS, Ubuntu, Android, and iOS
[Qsync] Maximum number of version control 64
HybridMount  

Note: At least 1 GB RAM is required.

[HybridMount] File Cloud Gateway Concurrent Connections = 20 Upload & 20 Download
[HybridMount] Network Drive Mount  
[HybridMount] Free cloud gateway sessions 2
HBS (Hybrid Backup Sync)  

Note: At least 1 GB RAM is required.

[HBS (Hybrid Backup Sync)] NAS to NAS backup  
[HBS (Hybrid Backup Sync)] Cloud Backup  
[HBS (Hybrid Backup Sync)] Cloud Sync  
[HBS (Hybrid Backup Sync)] 2-way and Active Sync  
[HBS (Hybrid Backup Sync)] Apple Time Machine Backup  
[HBS (Hybrid Backup Sync)] External drive backup  
[HBS (Hybrid Backup Sync)] Maximum number of backup job 400
Boxafe  

Note: At least 4 GB RAM is required.

[Boxafe] Office 365 Backup  
[Boxafe] Google Workspace Backup  
[Boxafe] Full-text search  
Qsirch  

Note: This feature is supported by all QNAP NAS devices with at least 2 GB of memory

[Qsirch] Previews Photos, music, videos, PDFs, Gmail, and others
[Qsirch] Integrate Mac Finder  
[Qsirch] Advanced picture search  
[Qsirch] Search filters  
QuMagie  

Note: At least 1 GB RAM is required.

[QuMagie] Browse photos  
[QuMagie] Virtual and smart albums  
[QuMagie] AI-assisted photo management People, things, places, and others
Antivirus (free)  
QVPN Service  

Note: At least 1 GB RAM is required.

[QVPN Service] Remote Access PPTP, L2TP/IPSec, OpenVPN, WireGuard, QBelt (QNAP proprietary)
[QVPN Service] Supportedd utility and mobile app Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android
[QVPN Service] Supported maximum clients 100
HD Station  
LDAP Server  
RADIUS  
SQL server  
License Center  
Multimedia Console  
Photo Station  
Music Station  
Video Station  
Download Station  
Notes Station  
Qfiling  
Media Streaming add-on  
QmailAgent  
QuWAN  
DA Driver Analyzer  
Q’center  

Note: The application is available in the App Center and in virtual appliance marketplaces (VMware vSphere ESXi and Microsoft Hyper-V).

Q’center Server  
Q’center Agent  
Connect to Q’center  
Container Station  

Note: At least 1 GB RAM is required.

[Container Station] Supported type LXC/LXD and Docker

Note: LXD has been supported after Container Station 2.4

[Container Station] Docker Hub Registry  
[Container Station] Container importing and exporting  
[Container Station] Console mode  
QVR Pro  

Note: At least 4 GB RAM is required. The maximum number of channels supported varies by NAS model, network configuration, and camera settings. For more information, visit https://www.qnap.com/go/qvr-nas-selector.

[QVR Pro] Recording Technique Index database based
[QVR Pro] License Type Perpetual
[QVR Pro] User-defined trigger events  
[QVR Pro] Metadata  
[QVR Pro] QVR Pro Client (Desktop) Windows, macOS, and QNAP HybridDesk Station
[QVR Pro] QVR Pro Client (Mobile) Android and iOS
[QVR Pro] Recording camera streams H.264
[QVR Pro] Free built-in camera channels 8
QVR Elite  

Note: At least 1 GB RAM is required. The maximum number of channels supported varies by NAS model, network configuration, and camera settings. For more information, visit https://www.qnap.com/go/qvr-nas-selector.

[QVR Elite] Recording Technique Standard MP4 file based
[QVR Elite] License Type Subscription-based
[QVR Elite] User-defined trigger events  
[QVR Elite] QVR Pro Client (Desktop) Windows, macOS, and QNAP HybridDesk Station
[QVR Elite] QVR Pro Client (Mobile) Android and iOS
[QVR Elite] Recording camera streams H.264
[QVR Elite] Free built-in camera channels 2
QVR Pro Client  
[QVR Pro Client] Dynamic View Layout  
[QVR Pro Client] Windows  
[QVR Pro Client] Mac  
[QVR Pro Client] HybridDesktop  
[QVR Pro Client] iOS  
[QVR Pro Client] Android  
QVR Human  
QVR Face  

The maximum number of channels supported varies by NAS model, network configuration, and camera settings. For more information, visit https://www.qnap.com/solution/qvr-face/en-us/

QVR DoorAccess  
Note:
QTS does not support DRM content and some IPv6 services.
Some data encryption features may be unavailable because of country-specific legislative restrictions.
Some features may vary by model.
Designs and specifications are subject to change without notice.


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