NetCom announced the launch of a new data storage system that is designed as a low cost hardware based RAID 5 enabled solution that combines the new eSATA host interface with a hardware platform that houses four drives in a desktop like enclosure.

According to NecCom's press release that was cited by the news site PRNewswire, this is the industry's first storage solution that comes in a RAID 5 configuration that reaches up to 3TB of storage capacity. The NR5-4 model series comes with the latest innovations in terms of hard disk drives as it incorporates hot-swappable SATA drives, while supporting several RAID levels like 0, 5 and 10, which translates in high performance and data protection.

NetCom designed those external storage solutions for "workgroups, departments and small businesses", that need the extended data protection offered by the RAID 5 storage system, while the eSATA interface provides up to six times the data transfer rates available with USB or FireWire.

All major operating systems are supported by the NR5-4 model series storage solutions as the boxes themselves come with drives for Microsoft's Windows Vista and XP, Mac OSX and Linux. For easier administration and system status monitoring, the storage box has a backlighted LCD display and keypads together with a 1 meter long cable. "Getting 3 terabytes of raw storage capacity in a small desktop platform at an affordable price is an important consideration for many of our clients," said William Long of Digital Microware, a systems integrator and storage consulting firm. "Add in NetCom's excellent pricing, and the NR5-4 systems represent value that is unrivaled in the storage industry."

While the price of the new storage system is not too low, it is not by far the priciest product, as the bid for the NR5-4 starts at $1,949 and goes up to over $2,000 for a full options box with all SATA four hard disk drives that offer the maximum supported of 3TB.