Some of the Best Sonnet Products to Look Out For

Connectivity and compatibility are the need for the hour. Companies in the tech space are running hardware that use multiple connectivity options, with PCIe and Thunderbolt being the two most popular interfaces. The constant need to switch between a Thunderbolt and a PCIe interface was so widespread, it spawned a whole market of products that would otherwise have not existed. Sonnet technologies took advantage of this need and designed a line of high-end products that catered to pro users in the audio, video, and broadcast industry. Here are some of their flagship Sonnet products.

SF3 Series CFast 2.0 Pro Card Reader

Professional-grade digital cinema cameras are slowly gaining in popularity, especially products from Canon, ARRI and Blackmagic Design. This is has generated a need for CFast 2.0 memory cards, which have rated read speeds of near 550 MB/s. Traditional USB card readers come nowhere close to the speeds that this card can supply, which created a gap in the market for super high-speed card readers. The Sonnet SF3 Series CFast™ 2.0 Pro Card Reader features a 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3 interface, which rapidly ingests footage from CFast memory cards to any Mac or Windows computer that has Thunderbolt 3 ports. The Series 3 reader also has dual slots that enable simultaneous ingest of files from two cards up to 1000 MB/s total.

Fusion R400 RAID USB 3.0 rackmount storage

People working in video and audio production and post production have a need for affordable multi-drive rackmount storage systems. The Sonnet Fusion R400 RAID USB 3.0 is a versatile 4-drive RAID 5 SATA storage system that is simple enough to deploy in most server racks, while delivering reliable operation and simple configuration in a convenient, budget-friendly package. This storage system features a high-performance internal storage controller that manages its enclosed 3.5" hard drives, and offers 5-drive configuration options, including RAID 5. While Mac users will find the USB 3.0 interface a hindrance, there’s always the option of buying a convertor.

xMac Mini Server Expansion Rackmount

With the right technology, a Mac mini OS X Server with Thunderbolt technology has the necessary power for functioning as a full size server, but it is limited by its compact size and form factor, in particular with its lack of expansion slots. The Sonnet xMac mini Server PCIe 2.0 expansion system/rackmount enclosure allows you to connect 2 PCIe expansion cards, and the integrated 150-watt power supply provides plenty of power for high-performance cards.