Bake-Off: Network-Attached Storage

Adaptec Snap Server 520
Adaptec Snap Server 520, despite its robust feature set, lost out to Netgear and ended up in third place. At a list price of $6,445 for a 2-Tbyte configuration, the Snap Server has the highest price-per-capcity value compared with its competitors. Netgear had the advantage of having a lower price-per-capacity while matching many of Snap Server's features. However, the Snap Server 520 stands apart from its competition in one regard: While the other vendors submitted storage products, Adaptec submitted a complete solution.

With two Gigabit Ethernet ports, a print server, backup and antivirus software, the 1U enclosure comes with four 750-Gbyte hot-swappable SATA drives. Its two-line LCD displays status information, system ID and IP address. The Snap Server is a system with an eye toward future growth. The box can have its internal memory upgraded up to 4 Gbytes. Seven expansion bays make a maximum capacity of 66 Tbytes possible.

Mounting the rack on rails proved to be a frustrating exercise. Otherwise, installation was simple. The extremely well-laid out, browser-based administration interface allowed reviewers to see the status of, and configure, almost everything imaginable. It is clearly one of the unit's high points.

Connecting to the shares was as easy as typing the path within a command line or, preferably, mapping a drive letter to it from a remote machine.

At nearly twice the size of the LaCie, the extra surface area allowed the Snap Server to operate at almost room temperature, 69 degrees, in the front of the case, and only 10 degrees warmer in the back. This was much cooler than the other contenders. On the flip side, at 78 dB, it was a noisy system and drew about the same amount of power as the HP ProLiant DL320s, peaking at 130 watts during startup before dropping down to the 90s.

Read and write tests showed that the Snap Server's speed improves somewhat with larger files. It took the longest to read and write 1.2 Gbytes of data at 2:11 minutes to read and 2:09 minutes to write. It took 8:37 minutes to read and 15:26 minutes to write 3.2 Gbytes.

Partners can consider add-on activities with the Snap Server, such as future expansion. Like the HP ProLiant, there are software opportunities, such as license renewals for the antivirus and backup, or installing other storage management tools.

Top-tier partners receive qualified leads, up to 25 percent off distributor pricing and MDFs. Adaptec assigns a field representative, system engineer and inside sales account manager to top-tier partners. All partners have access to rebates and spiffs, at an average of about two per quarter.

LaCie Ethernet Disk
Even though it lacks many of its competitors' features, the LaCie Ethernet Disk was a favorite during testing. The lack of features such as individual disk status information, support for the NFS protocol and a front LCD panel hurt the Ethernet Disk in this particular comparison and helped land it in fourth place, but its performance and price-per-capacity stand out.

Despite being the cheapest unit on price-per-capacity, at $949 for 2 Tbytes, the LaCie Ethernet Disk turned in better performance than two of its competitors, Netgear and Buffalo.

LaCie Ethernet Disk has four hard disk drive slots and can support as many as 25 users simultaneously. The test system had 4 Tbytes of storage and is priced at $1,999.

LaCie ships with a Microsoft Windows XP Embedded operating system preinstalled. The OS allows Ethernet Disk to easily join a Windows domain using Active Directory. It also supports Samba, AFP, FTP, HTTP and Bonjour file-sharing protocols. There are four high-speed USB 2.0 ports for backup onto external hard drives, or for capacity expansion. There are also PS2 mouse/keyboard ports and a VGA monitor connector, none of which LaCie recommends using.

The 1U rack-mountable unit came with little rubber feet (or as one reviewer called them, "booties") to cover the protruding ends, allowing it to be safely used as a stand-alone device. Optional rails for rack mounting are also available. Installation and configuration was, by far, the easiest of all the units tested. Reviewers mounted the system in a rack, connected the power and network cables and turned it on. After boot, there is already a share called Public created and ready to use.

The browser-based, tabbed administration application is intuitive, but sparse on features.

Although generating more heat than the others, the LaCie was quiet and drew considerably less power than the other products. The power draw peaked at 66 watts during startup and stabilized at 63 watts.

While Ethernet Disk lacks features, it performs well. It took 1:11 minutes to read and 1:30 minutes to write 1.2 Gbytes of data, and 13:02 minutes to read and 6:41 minutes to write 3.2 Gbytes of data.

Entry-level LaCie partners buy the product through distributors. VAR program partners have access to special discounts, volume incentive rebates and a higher level of tech support.

Next: Buffalo TeraStation Pro II