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If you have Thunderbolt3+/USB4 on both ends, you can just plug in a cable between the hosts and they'll network. From there you should just be able to find the

If you have Thunderbolt3+/USB4 on both ends, you can just plug in a cable between the hosts and they'll network. From there you should just be able to find the other host(s) through the normal Windows networking environment for things like file share. RDP shouldn't be more than connecting to `otherhost.local`. Looks to me like this is just a GUI for managing features that USB4 already supports. Maybe they have some optimisations for Thunderbolt network speeds (I don't think SMB is designed to work over 20Gbps links?) but it feels like someone could develop a small Windows application to do all of this without too much effort. The ground work has already been done. I don't have a pair of devices to test this feature with, but based on the documentation alone, none of these features should be new. I would've expected this tool to come with the Intel driver package to make Thunderbolt relevant for end users, not for it to be sold and licensed.

justinclift 2y ago
> I don't think SMB is designed to work over 20Gbps links? SMB Direct, which uses RDMA, is apparently designed for (very?) high speed links. I have no idea if TB4 includes anything like RDMA in its list of capabilities though.
crest 2y ago
All the applications they're describing can already be done over IP and are only held back by the lack of easy to use, fast reliable network interfaces in consumer hardware especially laptops. If Intel made Ethernet over Thunderbolt fast and efficient on their hardware by making it look like a decent NIC to the operating system this problem would be solved and AMD would have to play catch up since they don't have a line of good enough modern NICs in house. Intel could even show off how fast and efficient their systems are compared to software packet processing. Solve the usable external bandwidth bottleneck for mobile hardware. Launch a line of media converters to 10/25/40 Gb/s Ethernet priced to establish an ecosystem. Give users docking stations that just work.
jauntywundrkind 2y ago
Yes, usb4 standard includes host-to-host, which sets up IP networking between computers. And yes there's lots and lots of file share over local network apps. That would just work. Intel Thunderbolt Share adds their own ways reimplementation of something like MediaTek CrossMount, a set of standards atop UPNP to share sound cards, screens, input devices. From the article: > It’s really going to offer users an easy, fast, and efficient way to do more with your two PCs by securely sharing screens external monitors, keyboard, mouse, storage and all your files, Intel Thunderbolt Share (ITS) has shown up a number of times, and this elementary confusion with base USB4 capabilities persists. ITS seems semi cool to me, just, 100% would rather have a protocol than a piece of software. Super glue usb-ip to mdns or UPNP, and be real about it. ITS feels like a cheap substitute of the real deal: Software as a Protocol Substitute. https://hn.algolia.com/?query=thunderbolt%20share&sort=byDate https://hn.algolia.com/?query=thunderbolt%20share&sort=byDat...

justinclift 2y ago

> I don't think SMB is designed to work over 20Gbps links? SMB Direct, which uses RDMA, is apparently designed for (very?) high speed links. I have no idea if TB4 includes anything like RDMA in its list of capabilities though.

crest 2y ago

All the applications they're describing can already be done over IP and are only held back by the lack of easy to use, fast reliable network interfaces in consumer hardware especially laptops. If Intel made Ethernet over Thunderbolt fast and efficient on their hardware by making it look like a decent NIC to the operating system this problem would be solved and AMD would have to play catch up since they don't have a line of good enough modern NICs in house. Intel could even show off how fast and efficient their systems are compared to software packet processing. Solve the usable external bandwidth bottleneck for mobile hardware. Launch a line of media converters to 10/25/40 Gb/s Ethernet priced to establish an ecosystem. Give users docking stations that just work.

jauntywundrkind 2y ago

Yes, usb4 standard includes host-to-host, which sets up IP networking between computers. And yes there's lots and lots of file share over local network apps. That would just work. Intel Thunderbolt Share adds their own ways reimplementation of something like MediaTek CrossMount, a set of standards atop UPNP to share sound cards, screens, input devices. From the article: > It’s really going to offer users an easy, fast, and efficient way to do more with your two PCs by securely sharing screens external monitors, keyboard, mouse, storage and all your files, Intel Thunderbolt Share (ITS) has shown up a number of times, and this elementary confusion with base USB4 capabilities persists. ITS seems semi cool to me, just, 100% would rather have a protocol than a piece of software. Super glue usb-ip to mdns or UPNP, and be real about it. ITS feels like a cheap substitute of the real deal: Software as a Protocol Substitute. https://hn.algolia.com/?query=thunderbolt%20share&sort=byDate https://hn.algolia.com/?query=thunderbolt%20share&sort=byDat...