Cisco Targets SMBs With Smart Storage Line
Cisco continues its push into network storage targeted at small and medium-size businesses with the launch of its NSS 300 Series unit
Networking giant Cisco Systems has launched a new addition to portfolio of network storage devices targeted at the SMB community.
Cisco, which made much of its move into data centres, quietly introduced its first storage hardware products, the NSS2000 and NSS3000 units, in spring 2009. Since then, much development has ensued.
NSS 300 Series
The Small Business NSS 300 Series consists of two-bay, four-bay and six-bay desktop network storage units and provides small business users with a single system that comes with preinstalled business applications. These include a user-configurable web server with an integrated WordPress publishing platform, along with built-in servers for user authentication and management of the network, Cisco said.
The NSS 300 devices – which offer RAID 0, 1, 5 or 6 – support Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and iSCSI and can provide up to 12TB of capacity using 2TB drives. Higher capacities can be added as larger disk drive capacities come into the market, Cisco said.
The devices use a browser-based interface and can be set up in minutes, Cisco said.
They feature power on/off according to preset hours and conserve electricity with an Energy Star V-rated power adapter and hard disk drives that spin down – but not necessarily off – while inactive.
Security features include highly secure remote and web access. On-disk data encryption helps protect critical business data even if the hard drives are stolen, a business-class feature that most small business storage solutions do not provide, Cisco said.
Pricing for the two-bay machines starts at $913 (£624) without drives and goes up to $5,625 (£3,842) for six bays with 2TB drives, Cisco said.
Cisco’s Small Business Pro Service is $149 (£102) for most NSS 300 Series configurations.
