networking News - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

November 7, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Nexalta Guardian NXG0042AI – Qualcomm IPQ9574-based networking solution with 10GbE, WiFi 7, 5G, local AI (Crowdfunding)

Nexalta Guardian NXG0042AI is a large networking and IoT gateway “monster” powered by a Qualcomm IPQ9574 chipset offering 10GbE and 2.5GbE networking, WiFi 7 support with up to five concurrent WiFi radios, up to four/seven 5G modems, up to 52 (e)SIMs, and two on-board Compute Module slots for Rockchip RK3588 or NVIDIA Jetson SO-DIMM system-on-modules. The main board (XWR A1) also offers 25Gbps WAN fabric, three MCUs for BMC, power management, and cryptography, M.2 slots for NVMe storage or AI accelerators, two mSATA sockets, HDMI video output, USB ports, Starlink satellite support, and a range of IoT protocol options such as LoRaWAN, 5G RedCap, UWB, Bluetooth LE, and so on. Nexalta Guardian specifications: Main SoC subsystem SoC – Qualcomm IPQ9574 quad-core Arm Cortex-A73 processor @ 2.2GHz processor System Memory – 2GB DDR4 RAM Storage – 8GB eMMC flash, 64MB NOR flash SoM sub-system 2x 260-pin SO-DIMM sockets for: Turing RK1 […]

November 5, 2025November 7, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 392 Comments

Giveaway Week 2025 – Banana Pi BPI-R4 Lite

Mediatek Filogic 850 2.5GbE WiFi 7 5G router board

The third prize of CNX Software Giveaway Week 2025 is the Banana Pi BPI-R4 Lite router board, which will be shipped directly to a randomly selected winner by the company. It’s powered by a MediaTek Filogic 850 (MT7987AV) quad-core Cortex-A53 network processor, coupled with 2GB DDR4 and 8GB eMMC flash, and equipped with four gigabit Ethernet ports, a 2.5GbE RJ45 WAN port, and a 2.5GbE SFP cage. It can also be extended with WiFi 7 and 5G cellular modules thanks to two mini PCIe sockets and an M.2 Key-B slot with USB 3.0 interface. The board also features a 16-pin MikroBus GPIO header with UART, I2C, SPI, PWM, and other signals to connect one of the over 1000 Mikroe Click modules available. As its name implies, the BPI-R4 Lite is a cost-down version of the Banana Pi BPI-R4 introduced a few years ago. The documentation has improved since the last […]

October 29, 2025October 28, 2025 by Debashis Das - 6 Comments

TerraMaster launches Intel N150 NAS systems with 5GbE networking, AI photo recognition

TerraMaster F4 425 Plus and F2 425 Plus Intel N150 Hybrid NAS

TerraMaster F4-425 Plus (4-bay) and F2-425 Plus (2-bay) hybrid AI NAS systems are upgrades to the earlier Intel N95-based F4-424 and F2-424 NAS systems with an Intel N150 processor, dual 5GbE ports (up from 2.5GbE), and up to three M.2 SSD slots for up to 144TB of hybrid storage. Both models feature DDR5 memory (up to 16GB), 4K/8K video transcoding, and support TerraMaster’s TRAID technology for improved performance and data redundancy. They also offer USB expansion options and quiet cooling, making them NAS solutions suitable for home and business use. TerraMaster F4-425 Plus and F2-425 Plus specifications: SoC – Intel Processor N150 CPU – Quad-core “Twin Lake” processor @ up to 3.6 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache GPU – 24EU Intel UHD graphics @ 1000 MHz Hardware transcoding F4-425 Plus – H.264, H.265, MPEG-4, VC-1 up to 8K@60fps F4-425 Plus – H.264, H.265, MPEG-4, VC-1 up to 4K@60fps TDP – 6W to […]

October 20, 2025October 20, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments

$165 Banana Pi BPI-R4 Pro board offers 2x 10GbE SFP+ cages, 7x 10GbE/2.5GbE/GbE RJ45 ports, WiFi 7 support

The Banana Pi BPI-R4 Pro is a new router board based on MediaTek Filogic 880 (MT7988A) Cortex-A73 SoC offering two 10GbE SFP+ cages/RJ45 ports combos, four 2.5GbE RJ45 ports, two Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, and optional WiFi 7 support via the Banana Pi BPI-R4-MIC-BE14 dual mini PCIe module. As its name implies, it’s a Pro/upgraded version of the Banana Pi BPI-R4 board first introduced in 2023, which doubles the memory to 8GB DDR4, doubles the SPI flash’s capacity to 256MB, and adds a few networking ports, M.2 expansion slots for a total of six, and a few other minor features highlighted in bold in the specifications below. Banana Pi BPI-R4 Pro specifications: SoC – MediaTek MT7988A (Filogic 880) quad-core Arm Corex-A73 processor @ 1.8GHz with AI-powered packet accelerator called TOPS (Tunnel Offload Processor System) System Memory – 8GB DDR4 Storage 8GB eMMC flash 256MB SPI NAND Flash MicroSD card slot 2x […]

October 15, 2025October 16, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 20 Comments

Orange Pi 6 Plus – CIX P1 SBC offers up to 64GB LPDDR5 memory, 45 TOPS of AI performance

Orange Pi 6 Plus Heatsink fan cooling solution

We wrote about the Orion O6N Nano-ITX SBC yesterday, mentioning that the Orange Pi 6 Plus was in the works. The good news is that the CIX P1 (CD8180/CD8180) single board from Orange Pi is now available on AliExpress for $223.90 with 16GB RAM and $268.89 with 32GB RAM, including a heatsink with fan, and a 100W USB-C port adapter. It’s the smallest CIX P1 board we’ve covered so far, but it still packs of lot of features including up to 64GB LPDDR5, two M.2 Key-M sockets for storage and/or AI accelerators, one M.2 Key-E socket for WiFi and Bluetooth, dual 5GbE networking, five displays interfaces via HDMI, DP, USB-C, and eDP, two 4-lane camera interfaces, and more. Orange Pi 6 Plus specifications: SoC – Cix P1 (Codename: CD8180 or CD8160) 12-core DynamIQ processor 4x Cortex‑A720 big cores @ up to 2.6 GHz 4x Cortex‑A720 medium cores @ up to […]

October 5, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Easily add 80+ Mbps Ethernet to microcontrollers with WIZ630io QSPI RJ45 module

WIZnet WIZ630io is a small module featuring an RJ45 jack and a W6300 controller supporting up to 80+ Mbps Ethernet over QSPI @ 150 MHz. As a reminder, the W6300 features 64KB of SRAM for 8 sockets, each with a 4KB TX/RX buffer by default. It is notably found in the WIZnet W6300-EVB-Pico2 development board powered by a Raspberry Pi RP2350 MCU. The WIZ630io allows you to easily add Ethernet to any RP2350 board or other microcontroller with a SPI or QSPI interface. WIZnet WIZ630io specifications: W6300 QSPI Ethernet controller Host Interface – High-speed QSPI (MODE 0/3), system bus with 2 address signals & 8-bit data Internal 32KB SRAM for Tx/ Rx buffers (64KB in total) 8x independent sockets with 64KB Memory 10BaseT / 10BaseTe / 100BaseTX Ethernet PHY Integrated Auto negotiation (Full and half-duplex, 10 and 100-based) Auto-MDIX only on Auto-Negotiation Mode IP Fragmentation not supported Hardwired TCP/IP protocols […]

September 27, 2025September 26, 2025 by Debashis Das - 13 Comments

Fing Agent Raspberry Pi Kit – An all-in-one Raspberry Pi 4-based network monitoring solution

Fing Agent Raspberry Pi 4 Kit, network monitoring

Fing has recently introduced the “Fing Agent Raspberry Pi Kit“, also called “Fing Agent plug-and-play Raspberry Pi 4 kit”, for its Fing Agent network monitoring system, which can be considered a follow-up to the earlier Fingbox hardware released in 2017. While Fingbox was a custom appliance based on Ubuntu Core, the new kit uses a Raspberry Pi, making it easier to set up and use in a home or small office network. The kit includes a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B (2GB) in an aluminium case, a 32GB microSD card with Fing Agent preinstalled, a USB-C power supply with adapters, and a Cat 5e Ethernet cable. Once connected to the router, it works with the Fing app, desktop, or web to monitor devices, track uptime and speed, detect intrusions, and send alerts about unusual activity. It also supports device blocking, presence detection, and diagnostics, such as port scans and vulnerability checks. Making it […]

September 24, 2025 by Kumpee Teeravech - 10 Comments

Particle Tachyon Review – A Qualcomm QCM6490 Edge AI and 5G cellular SBC tested with Ubuntu

Hello, today I’m going to review the Particle Tachyon SBC designed for high-performance edge AI, IoT, and connectivity applications. Powered by the Qualcomm QCM6490 platform with an octa-core Kryo CPU, an Adreno GPU, and a Hexagon DSP. The board also integrates robust wireless options, including 5G, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.2. The Particle Tachyon adopts the Raspberry Pi form factor and provides various I/O interfaces, such as a 40-pin GPIO header compatible with Raspberry Pi HATs, along with expansion options for sensors and peripherals. It also includes a Qwiic connector for SparkFun and Adafruit integrations, as well as MIPI-CSI/DSI connectors for cameras and displays. Particle Tachyon Unboxing The parcel was shipped from Hong Kong and arrived with all the expected components. Inside the package, I found a single-cell 3.7 V LiPo battery with a 3-pin JST-PH connector, the main Tachyon board, a small welcome card, and an additional microphone audio […]