Netgear Pushes Higher Into SMBs With Unified Storage Arrays

Netgear this week signaled its intention to be a bigger part of the SMB storage business with the introduction of its first unified storage array and the addition of new capabilities to its NAS appliances.

Netgear, the San Jose, Calif.-based storage vendor known primarily as the top supplier in revenue and shipment terms in the under-$5,000 storage appliance market, this week unveiled its ReadyDATA unified storage array family, the company's first to support SATA and SAS hard drives as well as SSDs in a single appliance.

Unified storage allows block-level (SAN) and file-level (NAS) storage protocols to be used simultaneously within a single appliance, thereby simplifying the management of the storage.

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Netgear has been traditionally well-known as a provider of SOHO and prosumer storage appliances, but it entered the midrange storage market about two years ago with the introduction of its first NAS appliance with iSCSI capability.

ReadyDATA is a family of dedicated storage appliances with both block and file capabilities, said Matt Pahnke, senior product marketing manager for the company's storage unit.

"We're definitely competing with EMC's VNXe and with entry-level NetApp FAS arrays," Pahnke said.

The ReadyDATA systems scale to up to 60 drives with 180 TBs of total capacity, and they include thin provisioning, compression and deduplication of block and file data. Data stored on a ReadyDATA array can be replicated using 128-bit SSL for security purposes. The arrays also provide unlimited snapshot capabilities for block and file data.

The systems also support VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V and Citrix XenServer virtualized environments.

Customers can mix and match SATA, SAS drives and SSDs as needed, Pahnke said. "We will be publishing a guide for mixing drives to optimize price and performance," he said.

The ReadyDATA arrays also support chargeback capabilities, Pahnke said. "This can be used by customers internally or by resellers who want to serve as a replication target for their customers," he said.

The family includes the ReadyDATA 5200, a 2U array with room for up to 12 drives. The company estimates street price with 12 SATA drives to be under $10,000. Also new is the ReadyDATA EDA4000, a 4U expansion array for the ReadyDATA 5200. They are expected to ship early third quarter.

Included with the ReadyDATA is a five-year warranty with three years of next business day service, Pahnke said.

NEXT: Updates To ReadyNAS

Netgear also updated its ReadyNAS NAS appliances with software that allows them to be use as DVRs (digital video recorders) for video surveillance. Pahnke said Netgear worked with Shreveport, La.-based NUUO on the software application.

"For a video surveillance solution, we provide the storage and server in our ReadyNAS, as well as the switch and software," he said. "Customers just add the cameras."

Also new is a software upgrade that expands Netgear's ReadyNAS replication software to its entry-level storage appliances, he said.