Seagate Technology today launched a new network storage solution that enables users to access, share and secure all their digital content from a centralized location on a small office or home network - the Maxtor Shared Storage II.

The Maxtor Shared Storage II series from Seagate automatically backs up business files, accounting records, videos, photos, music and other digital files stored on multiple networked computers without shuffling CDs or DVDs. Moreover, Maxtor's latest product is said to offer data management and security for up to 20 PC or Mac users.

"To help address the continuing market need for simple, easy-to-use network storage for the mass- consumer market, Seagate is focused on delivering a broad array of fully-integrated products with robust feature sets to simplify the task of storing, protecting, managing and sharing content between multiple computing devices," stated Jim Druckrey, senior vice president and general manager, Seagate Branded Solutions. "Whether in a small business or home environment, our customers benefit from years of engineering innovation and market-leading features to manage the fast rise in consumption and creation of commercial and user-generated digital content."

Furthermore, a new high-speed Gigabit Ethernet connection ensures fast data transfers and file sharing between computers on wired and wireless networks.
The Maxtor Shared Storage II solution comes in a dual-drive configuration with storage capacities of one terabyte (1,000GB) and it can be set up for RAID 1 (disk mirroring), which makes an exact copy of the files on one drive to the other, so if one drive fails, there's a duplicate version on the other drive as a backup.

It also includes two USB ports to connect and share two USB printers or two additional external storage solutions, or one of each. When connected to a home network, the Maxtor Shared Storage II solution can stream media content on compatible UPnP AV digital media adapters for viewing or playing music, movies or photos on entertainment devices throughout the network.

Seagate's Maxtor Shared Storage II solution will be shipped at the end of July to major retailers, distributors and online stores at a suggested retail price of $899.