OWC: Mercury Helios PCIe Thunderbolt2 Expansion Chassis

Other World Computing (OWC) announced that the Mercury Helios PCIe Thunderbolt expansion chassis has been updated with Thunderbolt2 technology.

The updated Helios handles throughputs of up to 20Gb/s, bringing Thunderbolt 2 technology to the original Mercury Helios’ throughput of up to 10Gb/s. Mercury Helios PCIe expansion chassis is a solution for using half-length professional-level PCIe 2.0 cards with Apple’s entire line of Thunderbolt enabled Macs that do not have PCIe slots due to size or design limitations.

Users can tap power of PCIe and Thunderbolt
Desktop workstations used to be a way computer users could access performance PCIe cards made for video capture/editing, media transcoding, audio processing, and storage. With Mercury Helios, users of portable and all-in-one computers can enjoy the functionality and productivity gains of these PCIe cards wherever their work takes them.

Boosts workflow productivity
The Mercury Helios is fast and flexible with a throughput of up to 20Gb/s, and is the solution to boost workflow productivity. It is bootable with AHCI-compliant cards and can daisy-chain up to five additional Thunderbolt devices. Types of PCIe cards Helios can use include: FC, 10GbE, RAID controller, video capture, digital audio, SSDs, SAS controllers such as the OWC Jupiter, as well as FireWire, USB 3.0, eSATA host adapter cards.

Offered with a $299 MSRP, the Mercury Helios PCIe Thunderbolt expansion chassis is available for order and will begin shipping within 7-10 days directly from OWC and select retailers.

Features and specifications

• Use any half-ength, single or double-width, full-heght x1, x4, x8, or x16 Thunderbolt-capable and AHCI-compliant PCIe card

• Expansion slots: One PCIe 2.0 x16 (x4 mode)

• Connection interfaces: Two Thunderbolt 2 ports

• Daisy-chain up to five additional Thunderbolt devices

• Bootable with AHCI-compliant cards

• External case dimensions: 5.7 (W) x 9.17 (D) x 2.9″ (H)

• Weight (without PCIe Card): 3.85 lbs

• Variable-speed fan for quiet cooling

• Automatically powers on/off with computer

• 3-year limited warranty

• Compatible with computer that can support Thunderbolt technology.

“With the upgrade to Thunderbolt 2, we’ve doubled the performance of the Mercury Helios and enabled Thunderbolt-equipped computers that do not have PCIe slots to tap into the power of PCIe cards and experience capabilities that were previously unattainable,” said Larry O’Connor, founder and CEO, Other World Computing. “It’s a low-cost solution for achieving performance that rivals high end workstations in a device that isn’t much bigger than an external HDD.“