Netgear Adds iSCSI To ReadyNAS SMB Storage Appliance
Netgear's new ReadyNAS NVX allows customers to use it for both NAS and iSCSI storage, said Drew Meyer, storage product line director for the San Jose, Calif.-based storage and networking vendor.
The ReadyNAS NVX is a four-drive appliance that lists at about $1,500 for 2.0 TB of capacity or $1,999 for 4.0 TB.
It is Netgear's first storage appliance to include iSCSI, Meyer said, making it suitable for small and midsize businesses that are starting to take advantage of server virtualization.
"It's for VARs working with SMB customers who don't know what to do with virtualization or how to do it, and whose servers are really beefed-up PCs," he said. "They can use this appliance as the back-end storage in a VMware environment."
That fits the plans of Bill Pitt, principal at Layer-Eight, a Goshen, Mass.-based solution provider and business consultant that recommends and deploys, but does not sell, IT products to customers.
Layer-Eight has been using existing ReadyNAS appliances in CPA, law firm and medical record customers as a file-share device, Pitt said.
However, the new iSCSI capability will allow his company to help those clients do more with virtual server environments, Pitt said. "We can use it for file-level sharing in clustered server environments and for iSCSI storage networking in VMware environments," he said.
The only drawback to the ReadyNAS line, Pitt said, was the lack of a rackmount version. He said he expects Netgear to make such a version available later this year. In the meantime, for customers with rackmount environments, his company recommends storage appliances from Thecus Tech, Milpitas, Calif.
The ReadyNAS NVX comes with multiple layers of data protection technology, Meyer said.
It includes three licenses for backup software for Windows and Mac OS from Memeo, Aliso Viejo, Calif. Customers can also use the ReadyNAS Vault, a Web-based storage vault based on software from Los Angeles-based Elephant Drive and the online storage capacity of Amazon S3.
Also included is the ability to do data snapshots and to replicate data between two units in separate locations, he said. "That makes it a poor-man's disaster-recovery solution," he said.
The ReadyNAS NVX is available now. Netgear's NAS sales all go through indirect sales channels.