The company is expanding its horizons using SFF PC expertise

Sep 14, 2012 09:49 GMT  ·  By

What some people don't know is that network-attached storage devices are just a sort of server computer. Since Shuttle has experience in designing compact PCs, extending its product coverage to NAS devices wasn't that hard at all.

Shuttle could have entered the market of energy efficient network-attached storage devices at any time, but it chose not to.

It may have been because it felt fine where it was on the market, or because it believed the NAS industry wasn't all that big and, thus, profitable yet.

Whichever the case may be, Shuttle is now in the game, directly opposed to Synology, Thecus, Sharkoon, and all others of their ilk.

“In view of the growing number of networked, often portable terminals, central data storage increases convenience of data handling as each machine on the network has access to the same content,” said Tom Seiffert, head of marketing and PR at Shuttle Computer Handels GmbH.

“At the same time, mechanisms such as mirrored hard drives give enhanced fail-safe operation. When on the move, apps enable password-protected access to the NAS.”

The OMNINAS KD20, as Shuttle's first NAS is called, has two hot-swappable drive bays that can hold 3.5-inch HDDs (hard disk drives) with capacities of up to 4 TB each.

RAID-1 mode (mirroring, for high data security), RAID-0 (striping, for maximum speed) and JBOD modes are supported. Furthermore, the S.M.A.R.T. System can be used to monitor the status of each drive.

As for the exterior of the product, the OMNINAS KD20 NAS device is housed in aluminum, uses an 80 mm fan for cooling (only if HDD temperatures rise above certain limits) and has an I/O panel with one USB 3.0 port, two USB 2.0 ports, an SD card reader and, naturally, Gigabit Ethernet. Switches and WLAn wireless routers are compatible.

Shuttle is currently shipping the OMNINAS KD20 NAS for 129 Euro / 129-168 Euro.

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Shuttle OMNINAS KD20 NAS
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