Winner: Thunderbolt R500 Network Access Storage (NAS) System, Network Storage Solutions, (800) 532-2224, (703) 834-2222 www.nssolutions.com Finalists: Icebox UltraPod With Icebox FC 2500 Storage Expansion Enclosure, now shipping UltraPod with StoragePod JBOD, Land-5 Corp., (888) 226-6544, (858) 566-2514 www.land-5.com NetFORCE 1500, Procom Technology, (800) 800-8600, (949) 852-1000 www.procom.com

Winner: Network Storage Solutions: Thunderbolt R500 Network Access Storage (NAS) System

The hallmark of the NAS market is ease of use, and the award for the best NAS device goes to Network Storage Solutions. The company's Thunderbolt R500 NAS System is a robust, full-featured, mid-range machine with all the ease-of-use features you would expect from a high-quality NAS device. Although somewhat expensive, it delivers the best features and performance characteristics in its class.

Network Storage Solutions' custom SpanStor OS is at the heart of this unit. Believe it or not, SpanStor fits on a single 1.44-Mb floppy disk. This device is split into two parts, the NASengine and a separate storage array. This allows the unit to expand to up to 8 TB in a single 42u rack. This kind of scalability is key for a mid-range NAS device. In addition to this, the unit comes with a gigabit NIC to ease any bottlenecks on the network front. The server can be remotely accessed via TCP/IP though UNC, telnet or HTTP sessions. Backups can be handled by the internal back-up software provided within SpanStor or with an NDMP-compatible software package from a central location.

The NAS market is a murky place, where selecting the best device isn't always easy. Network Storage Solutions makes that decision easier for you in the mid-range NAS market with this excellent solution.

		Winner: DLT7 Tape Autoloader, Benchmark Storage Innovations, (877) 77 BENCH, (720) 406-5111 www.4Benchmark.com Finalist: HP SureStore Ultrium 230 LTO Drive, Hewlett-Packard Co., (800) 752-0900, (970) 635-1500 www.hp.com/storage/

Award: Tape Storage System

Winner: Benchmark Storage Innovations: DLT7 Tape Autoloader

Capacity is always going up. We saw the introduction of 73-GB and 80-GB drives in the last year. Backing this volume of data up is a serious challenge. We also saw the introduction of LTO (Linear Tape Open) high-capacity tape drives. This year, our Well-Connected Award winner for Tape Storage System is based on the tried-and-true DLT (Digital Linear Tape) technology.

Benchmark Storage Innovations' DLT7 Tape Autoloader is a real value for the price. At its heart, this unit uses Benchmark's DLT1 drive, which has a native capacity of 40 GB and a transfer rate of 3 MB per second, native. The whole unit comes in a small-form factor, only roughly 8x10x24 inches -- pretty small for a tape autoloading system. It has the capacity to hold up to 560 GB on the seven tapes, assuming 2:1 compression. A well-designed front panel with an LCD display for tape-drive status and selection buttons for easy tape load and discharge helps to round out this unit.

After scoring several OEM agreements with its unit, Benchmark further proves its value proposition. The DLT7 Tape Autoloader offers exceptional value for the price, good performance and proven DLT technology.

		Winner: Backup Exec 8.0, VERITAS Software, (800) 327-2232, (650) 335-8000 www.veritas.com Finalists: ARCserve 6.61 Advanced Edition, Computer Associates International, (800) 225-5224, (631) 342-5224 www.ca.com Networker 5, now shipping 6, Legato Systems, (888) 853-4286, (650) 210-7000 www.legato.com

Award: Enterprise Backup System

Winner: VERITAS Software: Backup Exec 8.0

VERITAS' Backup Exec 8.0. is a mature, full-featured, easy-to-use product. It uses a familiar wizards system to help you set up your systems for proper backup. Backup Exec 8.0 uses agents on the target systems to facilitate backups. The agents can be viewed in a Windows Explorer-style display that segregates the agents according to the operating system on which they are installed. Restores can be accessed easily, and searches on your backup volumes are well organized. It even comes with a rarity these days -- a hard-copy manual.

You can get detailed backup reports from Backup Exec on backup sets, device sets, event logs and media sets. These concise reports can be either printed or exported to Seagate's Crystal Reports format. VERITAS maintains an excellent online database of technical issues, making it easy to solve common problems. All of these things make this product an excellent buy for the harried network administrator.