14 DAY TRIAL // QNAP has formally launched a new range of network-attached storage devices, which are actually quite odd when you get down to it, if only because of the way the company refers to them.
Sure, the term NAS is common enough, and the Turbo NAS series has been around for a while, as has the TS- naming scheme.
The oddity stems from the fact that QNAP System calls the 4-bay, 6-bay and 8-bay TS-x70 models "towers."
Seeing as how the drive bays are lined up vertically one next to another, instead of lying on top of each other, that's an odd word to use. Still, QNAP calls the TS-x70 4, 6 and 8-bay tower NAS devices.
The best of the trio is the TS-870, and 8-drive unit based on an Intel dual-core 2.6 GHz central processing unit.
For those confused by this, keep in mind that NAS devices are essentially highly specialized PCs that don't need displays.
Hence the existence of 2 GB DDR3 memory, four Gigabit LAN ports (10GbE ready), hot-swappable SATA 6 Gbps HDDs/SSDs, two USB 3.0 ports and HDMI (for streaming straight to monitors and TVs if needed).
The TS-670 is the 6-drive device with otherwise identical hardware assets, while the TS-470 has four bays but, again, the same specs.
"QNAP's internal testing shows that the reading speed is up to 450 MB/s and writing speed up to 423 MB/s in typical Windows environments in network trunking mode," said Jason Hsu, product manager of QNAP.
File management, sharing, backup, multimedia applications and other business use applications are included with the order of any of the three newcomers.
Finally, the TS-x70 series is highly scalable, as it can be connected via QNAP RAID expansion enclosures (REXP-1200U-RP / REXP-1600U-RP), leading to a maximum capacity of 100 TB. In those cases, VMWare VAAI, QNAP vSphere Client plug-in will enhance virtualization efficiency and operations.