Thecus Announces N8800 Rackmount NAS Server

by Marco Chiappetta — Wednesday, November 05, 2008, 04:11 PM EDT

Thecus Announces N8800 Rackmount NAS Server

Unbeatable performance, security and capacity in a 2U form factor

11/05/2008 – The 1U4500 from Thecus shook the world of rackmount storage by bringing fast and affordable SATA storage to a 1U form factor. Today, Thecus is pleased to release its latest rackmount NAS device, the N8800. Offering massive storage capacity, advanced features, and blazingly-fast performance in a 2U unit, the N8800 is poised to be the favorite NAS device for IT departments everywhere.

The N8800 delivers the performance and capacity that businesses demand. Under the hood is an Intel® Celeron™ processor and 1GB of DDR2 memory for snappy performance, faster response, and more concurrent connections. Another highlight is the N8800’s eight SATA hard disk bays, which enable up to 8 terabytes of storage. If more capacity is required, the N8800 is also stackable, enabling users to connect their unit with up to five additional N8800s and manage them via a master system. What’s more, the N8800 supports iSCSI initiators, allowing IT departments to centrally manage and deploy storage for the entire network. To manage all of this capacity, the N8800 comes with a number of advanced data management features, including multiple RAID modes (RAID 0, 1, 5,6,10, and JBOD are supported), hot spare, hot swap, and auto-rebuild. And with its dual Gigabit Ethernet ports with load balancing and failover, users will always have access to their data.

Every organization is different. That’s why the N8800 has been designed with flexibility in mind. The N8800 is fully compatible with all major operating systems, including Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. Users can access data via a number of common protocols, including SMB/CIFS, HTTP/HTTPS, FTP, NFS v3, or AFP. The N8800 even offers support for ext3 and ZFS file systems for enhanced compatibility with existing networks. The N8800 comes equipped with a plethora of useful features, including ISO mounting and support for web servers and MySQL. Connect IP cameras to the N8800 and it can even be used as a surveillance server. The N8800 also supports external modules that can extend the functionality of the N8800 even further.

The N8800 can be the IT manager’s best friend. Automate backups with Thecus’ proprietary Nsync remote data backup application, or take advantage of version control via a snapshot function using the ZFS file system to create and restore remote backups. The N8800 can be set up to send email notifications of any system abnormalities to the system administrator, including if the system is forced to use the redundant power supply. IT support is tough enough. Why not choose a storage system that tells you when something is amiss?

Tags: NAS, server, CES, Thecus, rackmount, N8, serve, AC, K

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com