Sonnet has introduced a Thunderbolt 3 adapter that allows 10Gbps connectivity to the network. Already earlier this year, the Japanese manufacturer Akitio presented a network adapter for Thunderbolt 3, which is compatible to 10GBase-T and NBASE-T (IEEE 802.3bz-2016). However, this also costs almost 300 dollars.
The Sonnet Solo 10G Thunderbolt 3 adapter is equipped with an RJ45 port and is therefore also compatible with 10GBase-T and NBASE-T (IEEE 802.3bz-2016). Of course, it is also backwards compatible and also supports the modes 2.5GBase-T and 5GBase-T. The adapter is packed in a black aluminum case and like the competition model of Akitio not really compact (79.5 x 114 x 27.2 mm) and with 240 g not really easy – but comes without active cooling and additional power supply. The network controller is the Aquantia AQC-107S.
Sonnet sees the field of application of the Solo 10G Thunderbolt 3 adapter especially where a high network bandwidth is important. This includes the processing of large media content, but also the testing of network hardware.
Workgroups with shared storage in post-production and other bandwidth-intensive workflows rely on 10 Gigabit Ethernet as the data transfer standard thanks to the optimal 4K support. While cheap 10 Gigabit Ethernet switches have significantly reduced the cost of deploying a 10GbE infrastructure, the cost of Thunderbolt 10GbE adapters has remained high, which is changing with our Solo 10G adapter for Thunderbolt 3, an equally affordable and powerful solution for fast 10GBASE-T 10GbE network connectivity.
The Sonnet Solo 10G Thunderbolt 3 adapter is now available at a suggested retail price of 212 euros.