Qnap Launches AI Desktop NAS TS-AI642 ARM-Based with 6 TOPS NPU

Qnap Systems, Inc. unveiled the AI NAS TS-AI642.

Adopting an ARM 8-core processor with 6 TOPS NPU, the TS-AI642 is for AI image recognition and smart surveillance applications. Achieving high performance and power-efficiency with 2.5GbE connectivity, 10GbE expandability via PCIe and dual 4K HDMI output, the TS-AI642 fulfills the image storage, backup, and video surveillance demands of SMBs.

 TS-AI642 front and rear

“According to professional technology media and global technology firms, 2023 is the year of edge AI. Research shows that companies and organizations are leveraging more efficient and budget-friendly Edge AI solutions due to the market and economic uncertainty.” said Jerry Deng, product manager. “The Qnap TS-AI642 is the first ARM-based AI NAS on the market. Incorporating NPU for boosting AI image recognition performance with a low power design, the TS-AI642 is a cost-optimized entry-level ARM-based AI image storage and surveillance NAS for SMBs.”

Click to enlarge

The TS-AI642 adopts the 64-bit ARM Cortex-A76 and Cortex-A55 8-core processor with 6 TOPS NPU. This helps accelerate AI image recognition, surveillance video analysis, and smart surveillance applications. Users can achieve a 200% performance boost in AI image recognition in QuMagie photo management (*), significant performance boosts in capturing text in images with AI OCR in Qsirch full-text search engine, and increase cameras for real-time analytics in QVR Face Insight facial recognition and the QVR Human people counting solution.

The TS-AI642 is a professional surveillance NAS, allowing user to install QVR Elite to deploy 2 free channels or up to 64 channels through purchasing additional licenses. With its dual-port HDMI, users can play and switch between multi-channel videos on 2 monitors.

The TS-AI642 has 1x2.5GbE port and the PCIe Gen 3 x2 slot allow users to install a 10GbE network card. By connecting a TL-D1600S company’s storage expansion unit, users can add an additional 12 HDDs to the TS-AI642 to achieve up to 350TB storage space to meet growing storage requirements (using 22TB hard drives in RAID-5). Or connect TR Series storage expansion units to add hardware RAID protection for expanded storage. Businesses can achieve massive storage capacities to meet long-term storage and archiving requirements with maximized ROI.

The TS-AI642 provides an all-in-one backup/restoration solution with versatile cloud-based services for simple hybrid cloud deployment. IT staff can regularly take snapshots to protect files from ransomware and create virtual private networks using the QVPN service for secure remote data access to the NAS.

Key specs:

• TS-AI642-8G:
  ARM Cortex 64-bit A76/A55 8-core processor (2.2GHz/1.8GHz), 8GB memory; hot-swappable 2.5-inch/3.5-inch 6Gb SATA HDD/SSD; 1×2.5GbE Gigabit RJ45 port, 1xPCIe Gen 3 x2 slot, 2x4K HDMI 1.4b outputs, 2xUSB 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gb/s) ports, 2xUSB 2.0 ports

(*) Note: By comparing with the same-grade 6-bay NAS