JMR Lightning's LTNG-XQ-8-DTMP is a four-slot Thunderbolt-2 to PCIe expander with an internal hardware (6 GB SAS) RAID controller and an 8-bay disk RAID array for working storage. This is an Intel-Certified product featuring four x 16 (mechanically, x 4 electrically) PCIe expansion slots and quad 20 GBps Thunderbolt-2 I/O ports so other compatible Thunderbolt products may be daisy-chained beyond the Lightning product.

Beyond that, the LTNG-XQ-8-DTMP is a one-of-a-kind product that also safely houses a new-generation MacPRO computer, remotes its on-off power function and all of its I/O ports, and adds boost cooling to the computer to keep it running cooler – all while providing a RAID storage subsystem and the other benefits listed.

The MacPRO installs in a few minutes using a removable carriage that securely straps the computer in place and in the correct position to install all I/O cables and use remote on-off power switch activation provided by the LTNG-XQ-8-DTMP.

Note: This product is also rack mountable using an accessory bracket set listed below. Once the rack mounting kit is attached, it fits any conventional 19 in. RETMA/EIA rack equipment cabinet, occupying 4U of cabinet space.

Included in this desktop product is a Thunderbolt-compatible ATTO SAS RAID controller installed in one of the PCIe slots, and an integrated, hot-swappable RAID disk storage subsystem which may be populated with any compatible 2.5 in. SFF drives, either rotating or SSDs – thus providing “on board” storage up to 32TB.

It has internal forced air cooling and is powered by an internal 460-watt power supply, and is attractively packaged with a rugged powder coated finish. The LTNG-XQ-8-DTMP works with all Thunderbolt-2-compatible PCIe peripheral devices; common applications include:

SAS/SATA host bus adapters and RAID controller cards
Video capture cards
Fibre channel host bus adapters and RAID controller cards
Audio interface cards
10 GBE network adapter cards
Graphical Processing Units (GPUs), RED Rocket-X cards
The LTNG-XQ-8-DTMP supports all compatible PCIe cards, up to full-height and full-length peripherals. It provides extra DC power connections for GPUs requiring those additional connections.

Unique design: The LTNG-XQ-8-DTMP is the only product on the market featuring four full-bandwidth PCIe slots, using two independent Thunderbolt 20 Gbps bridge circuits: One Thunderbolt bridge drives two slots, and a second internal Thunderbolt bridge drives the other two slots. Connections to the host MacPRO include using two of the three available Thunderbolt bus connections to the Mac. Daisy-chain expansion beyond the LTNG-XQ is also available via its four Thunderbolt expansion ports. The DTMP provides internal connectivity of the Thunderbolt connections to the MacPRO computer.

The advantage of this architecture is enhanced operating bandwidth for demanding applications which will utilize all the 20Gbps bandwidth available from each Thunderbolt port. Models of the LTNG-XQ include internal hardware (SAS) RAID controllers and eight RAID drives (rotating or SSD), and the storage array can operate at “full speed” (1,200+ MB/s transfer rates) using one bus while other demanding peripherals can operate at full speed using the other bus.