NAS maker Synology entered the router market by revealing the RT1900ac router at Computex 2015. Similar to Synology's NAS products, the new router uses a specially designed operating system, called Synology Router Manager (SRM). This new OS shares many similarities with the DiskStation Manager (DSM) OS that the company's DiskStation and RackStation NAS products utilize. SRM features an intuitive and windowed interface, which will help even the inexperienced users to get the most out of their router without having to mess with the Command Line Interface (CLI).
The router's OS offers many options, which will make even the hardcore IT administrators happy. SRM provides upload/download limitations per service and application and allows you to block access to groups of sites (e.g. warez, chat etc.) instead of having to set the names of the sites that you don't want users to have access to one by one. SRM also includes advanced QoS (Quality of Service) prioritization and many other interesting options. Through SRM's package center, the user is also able to install many applications on the router, enhancing its capabilities and usability.
In addition to the older 802.11b/g/n protocols, the RT1900ac supports the newest 802.11ac standard, offering up to 1900 Mbps transfer speeds under optimal conditions. It is based on the Broadcom chipset and has a 4 GB flash memory. The new router also offers four Gigabit Ethernet ports and a single USB 3.0 port, which can be used to share remote storage drives or printers with other users that are connected to the router. There is also a card reader installed on the device.
The RT1900ac router is expected to be available during the end of Q3 2015 with a price ranging from $150 to $200.
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