Features - Storage Innovations:

IOMEGA REVAMPS NAS 400 SERIES FOR IMPROVED NETWORK PERFORMANCE

Iomega Corp updated its NAS lineup with the new Iomega NAS 400r series. Building on Iomega's success in NAS servers for small- and medium-sized businesses, the NAS 400r series is built on Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2003, uses a high-speed Serial ATA storage subsystem and features improved performance, reliability and software capabilities across the line. Windows Storage Server 2003 is standard on all models. Scaling up to 1.6TB capacity, the new NAS 400r series leverages existing IT infrastructures by seamlessly integrating with Windows environments.

"Iomega has been very successful in the entire entry-level NAS market segment, both the sub-$2,000 and the $2,000 to $5,000 price bands," said Wayne Arvidson, general manager of Professional Storage Solutions at Iomega Corp. "The NAS 400r server is easy to install and easy to manage, features hot-swappable SATA drives, and because it is powered by Windows Storage Server 2003, it integrates seamlessly into Windows-based environments that are the IT backbone of most small- and medium-sized businesses."

"Customers tell us they are looking to consolidate their costly Direct-Attached-Storage," said Leslie McGuire, group manager of the Windows Server Division at Microsoft Corp. "Iomega's NAS 400r series of Windows Storage Server-based NAS devices provide easy migration to cost-effective NAS, reducing the cost of their storage environments."

According to Gartner, low end stand-alone ($2,000-$4,999) NAS unit shipments are projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5.3 percent annually through 2008 (Gartner Dataquest, "Network Attached Storage Market Forecast: Worldwide, 2003-2008", P. Rinnen, April 2004).

The new Iomega NAS 400r servers are designed to protect, manage and share critical information that is the lifeblood of today's business operations. The Iomega NAS 400r servers target the needs of corporate departments, enterprise workgroups, large remote offices, and small- and medium-sized businesses, offering models with 640GB, 1TB and 1.6TB of native storage capacity.

Hardware

The NAS 400r series features a high-speed Serial ATA storage subsystem. SATA drives are hot swappable, allowing a single drive to be removed from the unit without any data loss. The SATA drives in the NAS 400r offer a more reliable connection and improved RAID integration for better system performance and reliability with support for RAID levels 0, 1 and 5. Dual Gigabit Ethernet ports are now standard across the product line, as is a high-speed Ultra SCSI 320 port for backup to tape or the Iomega REV drive or the recently announced Iomega REV Autoloader 1000. Other performance-oriented changes include the use of Intel Pentium 4 HT (Hyper-Threading) processors in the 1TB and 1.6TB systems, enabling software to run faster and more efficiently.

Software

Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2003, a member of the Windows Server System family, is standard with all NAS 400r models. The 400r series servers benefit from performance improvements, support for larger volume sizes and more files per volume. File share management capabilities of the Microsoft Distributed File System (DFS) and Encrypting File System (EFS) provide easy assignment and protection of shares. All models also support the Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS), which lets IT managers set up point-in-time snapshot copies of their files that users can recover without an IT administrator or costly recoveries of tape. As a result, productivity is increased and customers lower the cost of operating their IT infrastructures while IT administrators gain time to focus on aligning IT with business goals.

All NAS 400r servers also ship with Iomega Automatic Backup software, a complete client backup solution with unlimited licenses for client PCs. Also included with each NAS 400r server is a full version of Computer Associates eTrust Antivirus software, which provides continuous virus protection.

The NAS 400r 1.6TB model also includes Microsoft Windows Print Server for server-based printing with improved printer reliability, manageability, and security, as well as Microsoft Exchange support, which frees up the Exchange Server to focus on processing email and communication transactions. The NAS device takes over the task of delivering files to the appropriate user from the Exchange databases, improving throughput and manageability.