14 DAY TRIAL // NAS devices have already carved a segment of the IT industry just of themselves, so there are companies that center much of their activities in this field, like Synology, whose latest product was launched just today (August 17, 2011).
Synology already has quite the NAS portfolio, but it definitely doesn't seem eager to let things go for long without some update or other.
As such, there was little shock associated with the revelation that Synology had completed a new member for the DiskStation product series.
The item in question measures 184 x 168 x 230 mm and has enough room on the inside to holds up to four hard disk drives. Said HDDs can be compact 2.5-inch units or standard models of the 3.5-inch variety.
Depending on how many drives one chooses and of what sort, the product can consume as little as 29.7W of power and can attain transfer speeds of 105 MB/s when reading and 47 MB/s when writing.
Its primary roles are such things as Media, iTunes, FTP, mail or web server, or as a surveillance station, though general backup tasks are definitely part of its potential prerogatives.
As for software, the DiskStation Manager 3.1 operating system is tasked with getting all the parts to work together smoothly.
“When you factor in the included software options and the versatility, this will really be a boon for serious users,” said Jason Bonoan, Product Marketing Manager at Synology America Corp.
“Businesses will love the ease of use and management. Synology Hybrid RAID (SHR) makes it a snap to create redundant storage, even using drives of differing sizes.”
For those that want more specifics, the Synology DS411+ uses a 1.6 GHz processor, 512 MB of RAM, eSATA, Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0 (2 ports) and 256-bit AES hardware encryption.
Orders (for workgroup users and small businesses, primarily) will start soon, if they haven't already, for under $500 (no disks included).