Sonnet Announces Industry's First to Ship Thunderbolt 5 Dock With Integrated PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD Storage

Sonnet Announces Industry's First to Ship Thunderbolt 5 Dock With Integrated PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD Storage

Brie Clayton January 20, 2025

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Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5 SSD Dock Features M.2 SSD With up to 6,100 MB/s Data Transfer Support Plus Four Thunderbolt 5 Ports; Provides up to 140W Charging Power to Laptop Computers and 2.5Gb Ethernet Support

What's New: Sonnet Technologies today announced the Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5 SSD Dock, the latest offering in the company's popular family of docking stations and the first to exploit Thunderbolt 5, the fastest external computer interface available.

The Echo 13 SSD dock features a choice of Thunderbolt certified PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs from Kingston Technology and also includes:

Four Thunderbolt 5 ports

Four USB 3.2 Type A ports

2.5Gb Ethernet (RJ45) port

3.5mm headset jack

SD and microSD card slots

The Sonnet dock is compatible with Apple M series Mac computers; Thunderbolt 3 Intel Mac computers; Thunderbolt 5 and most Thunderbolt 4 Windows computers; Thunderbolt 5 and 4 Chromebook computers; M series iPad Pro tablets; and USB4 laptops. See product page for complete compatibility details.

What It Does: Modern laptops are increasingly designed with minimal ports, making docking stations essential for connecting multiple peripherals at once and expanding functionality. Additionally, with rising costs for higher storage capacity laptops, users often need extra external storage. The Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5 SSD Dock solves these challenges by:

Centralizing to a single connection for displays, devices, storage, charging, and more.

Offering ultra-fast, built-in SSD storage (1TB, 2TB, or 4TB options).

Supporting multiple displays up to 8K resolution for enhanced productivity.

Delivering 140W power delivery for rapid laptop charging.

Kingston is proud to have been chosen to supply our award-winning NVMe SSDs for Sonnet's innovative Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5 SSD Dock. Known for exceptional quality and support, our SSDs are the perfect match to enhance the capabilities of Sonnet's latest Thunderbolt dock. - Keith Schimmenti, SSD Business Manager at Kingston Technology

Why It's Important: Many recent laptop computers include fewer peripheral ports and port types than those of the past - some are equipped with as few as two ports - thus limiting the number of devices that can be plugged in directly. Also, many users desire to augment the internal storage for increased capacity and/or backup. The Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5 SSD Dock overcomes these limitations by providing 12 external connections, connecting superfast internal storage, charging the computer, connecting monitors, supporting fast wired network connectivity, and reading all SD memory cards. With its mix of peripheral ports, the Echo dock connects a vast array of devices and supports high-performance peripherals with ease.

The Echo 13 SSD Dock is just the beginning of our Thunderbolt 5 journey. We are excited to deliver products that fully leverage the speed and flexibility of this next-generation technology. - Robert Farnsworth, CEO Sonnet Technologies

How It's Distinctive:

Fastest External Interface Available

The Echo dock's Thunderbolt 5 interface supports the full 80Gbps of bi-directional data bandwidth - double what's supported by Thunderbolt 4 docks - enabling more ports to simultaneously operate at maximum performance. Additionally, the Echo dock supports up to 120Gbps of video bandwidth, enabling higher display counts, resolutions, and frame rates.

Pre-Installed Kingston PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSD

Users can access 1TB, 2TB, or 4TB of ultra-fast storage without connecting an external storage device to the Echo dock or to the computer. With data transfers up to 6,100 MB/s supported, the internal storage is ideal for uses ranging from pro content creation and application storage to media storage and Time Machine backups.

Three Thunderbolt 5 Peripheral Ports, Broad Device Support

These ports support Thunderbolt 5, 4, and 3 peripherals, as well as USB4 V2, USB4, and all USB 3 devices, plus displays. Two of the downstream Thunderbolt 5 ports provide up to 15W each for charging and bus-powered device operation, while the third provides 60W for ultra-fast charging of the latest phones and tablets.

2.5Gb Ethernet Port

The dock's Ethernet port supports the 2.5Gb link speed over common Cat 5e cabling and is perfect for connecting to networks 2.5-times as fast as Gigabit Ethernet for faster file transfers and smoother gaming. The port can also provide speedier downloads from a network attached storage (NAS) system.

Four USB 3.2 Type A Ports

Includes three 10Gbps ports and one 5Gbps port. The three 10Gbps ports provide 7.5W each to ensure reliable support for high-power bus-powered devices and charging capabilities even when the computer is off.

Comprehensive Display Support

Connect two 8K displays, two 6K displays, or three 4K displays, depending on the host computer's capabilities.

Kensington Security Lock Support

The Sonnet dock includes slots for Kensington's standard and NanoSaver security locks, enabling users to easily secure the dock and valuable data stored in it to a desk or workstation (locks sold separately).

Thunderbolt has become a mainstream computer peripheral port technology, and Thunderbolt 5 delivers on the promise of next-level simplicity, reliability, compatibility, and performance. Docking stations and portable SSDs are leading market segments utilizing Thunderbolt technology, and we are excited to welcome the introduction of the Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5 SSD Dock which can help address the needs of Sonnet's customers with an innovative solution delivering storage and docking capabilities. - Benjamin Hacker, Vice President and General Manager Client Connectivity Division at Intel

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