Gridstore Enhances Scale-Out NAS Lineup
Posted by
Steve Wexler
March 22, 2011
Specializing in scale-out network-attached storage (NAS), Gridstore is releasing the second generation of its NASg system and providing some information about the next two releases (scheduled for the fourth quarter of this year and the first quarter of 2012, respectively). Founded in 2007, the Mountain View, Calif-based company in 2009 unveiled the beta of its first product, a scalable storage grid costing about a third of similar solutions.
Also available in a software version, NASg 2.0 is positioned between the enterprise ($25,000 plus) and stand-alone ($1,000 to $6,000) storage segments, providing a scalable, fault-tolerant, simple and affordable scale-out NAS solution for small and midsize businesses, says the company. Built around Intel's Atom CPU, the Windows-based solution starts at about $425 for a 1TByte node and $525 for a 2TByte node. A 12TByte six-node rack measuring 10 by 10 inches will cost about $4,395.
New capabilities for version 2.0 include support for Active Directory, Microsoft Management Console alerting, remote management, and support for Microsoft XP, Windows 7, Windows 2003 and Window 2008. Version 2.5 will feature snapshots, off-site replication, virtualization node restore and multitenant grid capabilities, while the 2012 release, NASg 3.0, will include iSCSI/block storage, virtualization support and Unix/NFS support.
Analyst Jeff Boles of the Taneja Group said that Gridstore is bringing an interesting new set of pay-as-you-grow scalable storage capabilities to the SME, at a cost of entry that is unmatched in the market today. "Moreover, since NASg scales, the value proposition moves beyond cost of entry with Gridstore promising the NASg can scale to unlimited capacity and performance levels with a disruptive cost per capacity over the long term. That mashes up what looks like enterprise capabilities, at an SMB price, for SME and bigger businesses."
He says that Gridstore sets a new mark for cost, and what he's seen suggests there's a solid foundation that should provide yet one more choice for IT shops looking for more cost-effective, flexible, easy-to-use storage that also provides a long-term system that can grow with changing needs.
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