Synology's NAS Lineup About to Be Enlarged

NAS devices have become more or less common in certain environments now, and Synology figured it was time for a new such product to emerge, so it prepared a new addition to its DiskStation collection.

When making a NAS device, hardware makers have to think about what target consumer segment they have in mind.

Some prefer more compact systems, while others don't mind some bulkiness as long as the storage capacity is massive enough for their needs.

Synology's latest device has not yet started selling, but its maker did take some time to issue an official press release about it.

Apparently, the newcomer goes by the name of DiskStation DS411slim and, as its name implies, it is more compact than many of its peers and competitors.

Of course, one cannot say this to be the most diminutive of NAS units, as it still has to be large enough to fit up to four HDDs inside of it.

The outfit was even careful to ensure than not just HDDs, but also hybrid drives were supported by the unit, as well as its OS (DiskStation Manager 3.0).

That said, the 'slim' moniker comes for the fact that the SATA storage units possible to put inside it need to stick to the 2.5-inch form factor.

The device has a 1.6 GHz processor at its heart, backed by 256 MB of DDR3 memory.

It can be utilized as a DLNA media server and has a maximum capacity of 4 TB. Needless to say, it boasts the obligatory Gigabit Ethernet port, plus eSATA and two USB 2.0 connectors.

“We have observed that the price gap between 2.5’’ and 3.5’’ hard drives is narrowing. Now the DS411slim is more affordable with no compromise on its high performance and versatile features,” commented Peter Chen, product manager of Synology Inc.

No pricing details were given, but sales should start in February, 2011.