QNAP Unveils TVS-hx77AX ZFS NAS with NFS over RDMA for AI Workloads

QNAP Systems, Inc., a computing, networking, and storage solution innovator, announced the new TVS-hx77AX enterprise hybrid ZFS NAS series.Comprising the 16-bay TVS-h1677AX, 12-bay TVS-h1277AX, and 8-bay TVS-h877AX, this lineup is powered by AMD Ryzen 7000 series processors and DDR5 memory. Featuring native NFS over RDMA support, the series is engineered for high-load AI model training, virtualization, and 4K video collaboration, setting a new performance benchmark for desktop NAS form factors.

Compute Core: Zen 4 Architecture and DDR5 Synergy
Powered by AMD Ryzen 7000 series processors based on the cutting-edge Zen 4 architecture, the TVS-hx77AX series delivers a significant boost in Instructions Per Clock (IPC) performance. Paired with up to 192 GB of DDR5 memory (ECC optional), the NAS effortlessly handles concurrent virtual machines (VMs), containerized application development, and high-throughput data decompression workloads.

Overcoming AI Bottlenecks: NFS over RDMA and 25GbE Expandability
To manage massive data pipelines, the TVS-hx77AX series features dual 10GBASE-T and dual 2.5GbE ports out of the box. Three built-in PCIe Gen 4 slots allow enterprises to install 25GbE SmartNICs (e.g., QXG-25G2SF-BCM) to enable NFS over RDMA. This technology bypasses the CPU to transfer data directly between memory subsystems, achieving ultra-low latency comparable to local NVMe SSDs-a critical capability for AI training and post-production video editing.

Hybrid Storage & ZFS Protection: Balancing Speed and Capacity
The TVS-hx77AX leverages a hybrid storage architecture featuring dedicated U.2 PCIe Gen 4 x4 NVMe SSD slots for exceptional random IOPS. Combined with Qtier for QuTS hero, the system automatically tiers hot data to SSDs and cold data to high-capacity HDDs, optimizing storage ROI. Additionally, the ZFS-based QuTS hero operating system provides self-healing capabilities and robust immutable snapshots, serving as a critical defense vs. ransomware while ensuring uncompromising data integrity.

“When SMBs deploy AI training or scale their virtualization environments, the bottleneck is rarely compute power – it’s data transfer latency,” said Sean Deng, product manager, QNAP. “With the TVS-hx77AX series, we didn’t just maximize hardware specs; we optimized the entire hardware-software stack. By leveraging NFS over RDMA, network data transfers achieve near-memory speeds. It delivers data-center-grade performance in a desktop footprint, built specifically to keep pace with the rapid evolution of enterprise AI.”

Key Enterprise Features:

AI-powered search: Integrates the Qsirch engine with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG). By connecting to cloud or on-premises LLMs, users can query massive NAS datasets using natural language, transforming the NAS into an intelligent enterprise knowledge base
High Availability (HA): Supports High Availability Manager for dual-NAS clustering, ensuring near-zero downtime and continuous business operations during unexpected hardware failures
GPU Passthrough: PCIe Gen 4 slots support up to 200W discrete graphics cards (e.g., NVIDIA RTX series), offloading intensive graphical and AI compute tasks to VMs
5-year standard warranty: Backed by a comprehensive 5-year warranty, demonstrating QNAP’s commitment to reliable, enterprise-grade hardware