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D-Link Posts Growth in Third Quarter of 2009

Ryan Whitwam — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:21:47 -0600

The recession may or may not be over for the general public, but as far as D-Link is concerned, the high times are here again. The maker of network solutions has posted solid growth in the third quarter of the year. Net profits were up to $7.98 million in Q3 2009. This is an abrupt turnaround after the first half of the year when the company actually lost several million.

A whopping 54% of D-Link’s profits were from the Asia Pacific and emerging markets. Management expects that to rise over 60% in the next few quarters. D-Link expects growth to continue in the fourth quarter, but not at an increased rate over the third quarter.

D-Link DIR-685 Xtreme N Storage Router

Michael Brown — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:30:30 -0500

Love the features; hate the performance—and the price tag

D-Link’s DIR-685 Wi-Fi router generated a lot of buzz at CES this past January. And when we took a gander at its spec sheet, we thought it a contender for Best of the Best in the router category; something that would finally displace the Linksys WRT600N, which is becoming hard to find. Alas, ’twas not to be.

The problem certainly isn’t with the DIR-685’s feature set: This router is absolutely loaded with goodies. The 3.2-inch color LCD can inform you of the router’s status and configuration; present digital photos from Flickr, Picasa, and Facebook; display RSS feeds, such as sports scores, weather reports, and stock quotes; and a lot more (this is one router your significant other won’t insist be hidden in a closet).

Next up, there’s a 2.5-inch internal SATA hard drive bay, which can turn the router into a NAS box (complemented by a built-in FTP server and BitTorrent software). There are two USB ports featuring D-Link’s SharePort technology, which allows you to plug in both an external hard drive and a printer and share these devices with any computer on the network. The router’s four-port gigabit switch automatically powers down any ports not in use to save a modest amount of energy.

You won't find a prettier wireless router, but you'll encounter plenty that are much, much better.

The rest of the features are just as valuable, if not as unusual. You can set up a password-protected guest zone, for instance, with the option of limiting access to a set schedule. And there’s both a UPnP server and an iTunes server. Lastly, there’s a Quality of Service engine to help eliminate lag for VoIP and media-streaming applications.

But our enthusiasm over all those whiz-bang features is tempered by the DIR-685’s slug-slow wireless throughput and NAS performance. We’ve been using the aforementioned Linksys WRT600N for comparison for more than a year, but we always retest its performance within a few hours of benchmarking a new contender, just to make sure both products are tested under the same environmental conditions.

The DIR-685 lagged far behind the Linksys in our Kitchen test, where the client is 20 feet away from the router and separated by an insulated wall and a set of plywood cabinets: It delivered TCP/IP throughput of just 45.4Mb/s compared to the Linksys WRT600N’s 98.9Mb/s. The D-Link turned in a particularly poor performance in our Media Room test, where the client is located in a double-insulated room-within-a-room 35 feet from the router, managing TCP/IP throughput of just 4.54Mb/s.

The 2.5-inch drive bay limits your choice of hard drives to notebook models, and D-Link provided us with an 80GB Seagate Momentus 5400.5 hard drive for this evaluation. But we find the router’s lethargic NAS performance more troubling than this physical limitation: The DIR-685 took a full 8:53 (min:sec) to copy a single 3GB file from a PC. Compare that to the Qnap TS-209 Pro II—our Best of the Best NAS pick—which copied the same file in just 2:27.

We won’t complain about a high price tag if a product’s features and performance justify it, but the DIR-685’s $300 price tag—which doesn’t include a hard drive—just rubs us the wrong way.

D-Link Revenues Peaked During August 2009

Ryan Whitwam — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:31:44 -0500

Taiwan based manufacturer of network solutions, D-Link, saw its highest revenues of the year last month. In August, the firm saw consolidated revenues of $80.43 million. This is particularly good news for D-Link, as the first eight months of the year showed a 16% decrease from 2008 numbers.

The monthly figures were also 7.8% higher than August of last year. D-Link also expects revenue to continue climbing for the rest of the year. Things are also looking up for 2010. "There's a lot of space for growth, especially in the emerging markets. Brazil and China appear to be climbing out of a slowdown, and that's going to drive some of our growth," said D-Link CEO, Tony Tsao.

D-Link DGL-4500 Xtreme N Gaming Router

Michael Brown — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:30:24 -0500

Looking for a dual-band router so you can run two independent Wi-Fi networks, using one frequency band for data and the second for streaming media? Scratch the DGL-4500 off your list, because D-Link’s definition of “dual-band” means operating on either the 2.4GHz band or the 5.0GHz band—not both at the same time.

When we think of a dual-band router, we envision something like the Linksys WRT600N we’ve been using as a reference point. That device has separate 802.11n Draft 2.0 radios that enable us to run two independent wireless networks. That’s not to say the DGL-4500 is a lousy router; in fact, it delivered far superior performance at long distances than the WRT600N. Where the Linksys box is nearly useless when our Wi-Fi client is outside our test home—delivering throughput of just 0.7Mb/s at one exterior location and 1.2Mb/s at the other—the D-Link delivered exceptional throughput of 18.0Mb/s and 6.44Mb/s, respectively.

The DGL-4500 is also much easier to configure for use with Windows Home Server. While we had to manually configure port forwarding on the WRT600N in order to enable access to our server remotely from the Internet, the configuration wizard in Microsoft’s consumer server OS was able to set everything up automatically on the DGL-4500. And gamers will appreciate D-Link’s proprietary GameFuel technology, which analyzes network traffic and assigns higher priority to packets it identifies as being associated with games.

If you buy a DGL-4500, be sure and update it with the latest firmware. D-Link has added its SharePort feature, which enables the router to add USB devices such as printers and storage to your network and share them. The DGL-4500 exhibited impressive range and its gaming-oriented quality-of-service settings are handy for gaming, but that’s not enough to dislodge the WRT600N as our favorite router.

4/13/2009 Editor's Note: A reader brought the SharePort feature to our attention after reading this review in the March edition of the magazine; we issued a correction in the April issue and have added that feature to the online review. The bottom-line verdict has not changed from the print review. --MB

D-Link Xtreme N DIR-685 Has Room For NAS and a Digital Photo Frame

Andy Salisbury — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 15:12:37 -0600

While most people are enticed with the blinking lights that most wireless routers provide, D-Link is looking to up the ante on even the most advanced getups (watch your back, Belkin) with their latest announcement; the Xtreme N DIR-685, featuring a 3.2-inch LCD.

D-Link’s router isn’t all Jenna Maroney, either. It’s got a lot of Liz Lemon, featuring the abilities to share a printer (or any other USB devices) and add a 2.5-inch hard drive for sharing files or BitTorrenting.

There’s still no word yet on pricing or availability.

Image Credit: D-Link

D-Link DAP-1522 Wireless Bridge/Access Point

Michael Brown — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:53:51 -0500

D-Link’s DAP-1522 demonstrates the danger of shopping for a product based on its specs. On paper, this combination bridge/access point sounds as though it could solve just about any wireless coverage problem you might have. In reality, it’s a one-trick pony

It’s a dual-band device, meaning it has one radio that operates on the 2.4GHz band and a second radio that runs on the 5GHz band. It’s outfitted with an 802.11n Draft 2.0 chipset, so it should deliver very good throughput speeds (it’s backward compatible with 802.11g networks). And it can be configured as either a wireless bridge or a wireless access point.

As a wireless bridge, the DAP-1522 is designed to connect wired Ethernet devices, such as an Xbox 360 or your cable-TV set-top box, to your wireless router. You plug your wired devices into the bridge, and the bridge establishes a wireless connection to your router. But the DAP-1522 doesn’t have any external antennas, so it delivers extremely poor range; in fact, D-Link advices against placing the device inside a cabinet or closet. But that’s exactly where many people’s gaming console and set-top boxes are going to be located.

Fans of real-world testing that we are, we decided to test the DAP-1522’s wireless bridge capabilities by putting inside our entertainment center anyway; after all, that’s where the gear we needed to connect to our network is located. Sure enough, the bridge couldn’t establish a connection with either of the radios in our dual-band 802.11n router while it was in there. And it couldn’t establish a connection until we moved the bridge into the middle of the room; even then, it managed TCP/IP throughput of just 4.5Mb/sec, which is completely inadequate for streaming video.

The DAP-1522 performed a little better as a wireless access point. In this mode, it must be hardwired to an Ethernet network using one of the device’s four gigabit Ethernet ports; the three remaining ports then act as a switch. The device delivered wireless TCP/IP throughput of 19.2 Mb/sec at close range (10 feet with no walls separating the AP and our wireless client), 14.9 Mb/sec at with the client 18 feet away and with one wall in between, and 12.7 Mb/sec with the client 30 feet away and with two walls in between.

So if you need a wireless bridge to enable wired clients to connect to your wireless network, we recommend steering clear of the DAP-1522. If, on the other hand, you’re interested in adding a wireless access point and a gigabit switch to a room that’s hardwired to your network, the DAP-1522 is worth a look.

But we also recommend that you examine Trendnet’s much cheaper TEW-637AP. It’s not a wireless bridge, and it lacks several access-point features that the DAP-1522 offers (the TEW-637AP operates only on the 2.4GHz band, and it doesn’t have an integrated switch), but Trendnet’s device is street-priced $60 lower than D-Link’s.

Daily News Brief: EVGA Owners, Rev Your GPUS!

Paul Lilly — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:49:08 -0500

New GPU Overclocking Program

EVGA is one of only two companies to officially allow their videocards to be overclocked without voiding the warranty (XFX being the other) , and to help customers push their GPUs, EVGA has released a new overclocking tool. Dubbed Precision, the OCing utility joins the ranks of RivaTuner, nTune, and ATITool. Precision works with EVGA 6, 7, 8, and 9 series graphics cards, offers core/Shader clock link/Unlink capability, and more. And if you own a Logitech G15 keyboard, you can view your OCing stats on the LCD display. Grab the download and read the FAQ here, and follow the forum discussion here.

And the $11 Million Merger Belongs To...

Infogrames said Wednesday it would acquire the remaining outstanding equity interests of Atari for $1.68 per share, or $11 million, making Atari a wholly-owned subsidiary. The move falls in line with Infogrames' effort to gain a stronger foothold in the US, while also jiving with Atari's recent major restructuring initiative.

Apple Invests in Instant Gratification for iTunes

Apple yesterday announced that new movies will now be available for purchase on the iTunes Store the same day as their DVD release. Participating studios include 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios, Sony Pictures, Lionsgate, Image Entertainment, and First Look Studios. New releases are priced at $14.99 and most catalog titles run $9.99. Kicking off the concurrent DVD/iTunes releases this week are American Gangster and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. See the full press release for more information.

Guess Who's Turning 30?

SPAM! That's right, the first known spam email was sent 30 years ago, traced back to a marketer for the now defunct DEC computer company. Flash forward to today, and unwanted emails toting their wares are now a staple of everyone's inbox. And according to an FBI report, 75 percent of Americans who were tricked into parting with $239.09 million were bamboozled through a spam message. More on the life and times of spam here.

GTA IV Shatters Own Sales Record in UK

Rockstar's highly anticipated Grant Theft Auto IV sold a record 609,000 copies during its first day of release in the UK, surpassing the previous record of 501,000 copies held by Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The game has also become the fastest selling Xbox 360 title in the UK with 335,000 copies sold, besting Halo 3's first-day sales of 266,000. Good thing too, as Rockstar North president Leslie Benzies revealed in an interview that GTA IV had a budget of roughly $100 million, the most costly development of any game to date. And who held that record previously? Shenmue, with an unprecedented $70 million budget when it was released for the Dreamcast back in 2000!

Router Bling

Had we found this out on April 1st, we'd be sure it was a prank, lest we're led to believe there's a legion of surfers out there looking to spruce up their D-Link routers. Well, now they can! Through a partnership with SkinIt, D-Link now offers both pre-configured and customized skins for anyone who owns a DIR-655, DIR -625, DIR-615, DGL-4500, DGL-4300, DGL-4100 or DIR-624 router. We'd offer our condolences to Linksys owners and others, but would they care?

What's Your Velocity?

That's not a rhetorical question, but the tagline behind Velocity Micro's video contest. Entrants are tasked with creating a video 3 minutes or less based around the tagline's theme for a chance to win a "$10,000 ultra performance Skulltrail gaming PC." Three runners up will receive a 22" Velocity Micro monitor. More rules and details here.