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Wednesday November 7, 2007
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It's not quite the Intel microscope, but Intel's decision to enter the overflowing NAS market on Tuesday raises some eyebrows.
Intel's jauntily named Intel Entry Storage System, which includes the SS4200-EHW (hardware only) and (including EMC backup software) will be available in December, starting at $500 and up. The NAS devices are designed for the small business, SOHO, and digital home, which covers a fairly broad swath of customers.
Since this is an Intel box, the hardware is somewhat familiar: an Intel Celeron 400 -series processor with an Intel 945GZ/ICH7-R chipset and DDR memory. One nice plus: an eSATA connection. One drawback: no hot swappable drives -- acceptable in the home, but meriting a raised eyebrow by a small business owner, I should think.
The units themselves can support up to four 3.5-inch SATA (3.0 GBps) hard disks from 80GB to 1TB.
I think this is the first NAS device I've seen that I know exactly what's inside the box. Given that its a NAS device, however, I'm not sure I care. (That may be unnecessarily snide; please tell me below if I'm being clueless.)
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November 7, 2007 7:49 AM
Intel doesn't typically go after such a broad set of target markets with a single product, but in this case it works. The IES can be outfitted with 1 terabyte 7200 rpm mainstream desktop drives, almost-silent DVR-class drives for home entertainment, or enterprise-class SATA drives for SMB storage. The drives define the machine.
November 7, 2007 11:00 AM
I take your point, Steve, but doesn't that characterization, um, anthropomorphize the drive somewhat? I mean, I know that the drive guys' worldview implicitly defines the market by the type of drive, but I'm not sure that a consumer/enthusiast/small business owner is going to see this as anything but an external NAS like any other.