Two days after EMC introduced a new high-end storage system for the largest and most advanced data centers, its Iomega subsidiary is trying to shake up the low-end of the storage market with an inexpensive rackmounted NAS system.
The StorCenter pro ix4-200r NAS Rackmount Server offers 2 TB or 4 TB of networked storage in a 1U form factor and includes a variety of high-end features for remote offices or small businesses with 100 or fewer users, the company says. They include a 3.2 GHz Intel Celeron processor, 1-GB of system memory, and one Gigabit Ethernet connection. A version with four 500-GB SATA II drives starts at $1,800, while a version with four 1-TB drives starts at $2,400. The company said it expects to roll out larger capacity systems during the next few quarters.
"We are offering features usually seen in mid-level enterprise systems that cost around $10,000. We are bring those features to the small office at a much lower price thanks to the EMC technology we can incorporate into our systems," says Jonathan Huberman, president of Iomega and the consumer and small business products division of EMC.
The feature list includes iSCSI support for block-level access, VMware ESX server certification for NFS and iSCSI storage, remote access, RAID 5 and 10, support for a variety of Windows, Linux and Mac environments and network protocols, Active Directory support, USB ports for external hard drives, and the ability to support four Axis network cameras for video surveillance.
It also includes EMC's LifeLine operating system and can be set up with four mouse clicks, and uses EMC Retrospect Express software for automated backups. A connection to EMC's MozyHome online backup service, which can be upgraded to MozyPro for businesses, is included, as is some encryption technology to protect installs and upgrades that is supplied by RSA, another EMC division.
