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Overland Storage has released a new unified storage appliance that combines NAS and iSCSI capabilities, offering SMB mission-critical storage at prices closer to those of many SOHO storage appliances.
The company also unveiled its biggest NEO tape library in a move to capitalize on what it sees as new opportunities from Oracle's acquisition of Sun, which was the source of the StorageTek brand of tape libraries.
The new SnapServer N2000 scales to up to 144 TBs of storage in a 2U, 12-drive rackmount appliance, said Drew O'Brien, product marketing manager for Overland Storage's Snap line.
Customers can ask solution providers to configure the N2000 with SAS or SATA hard drives in any combination, and can specify either enterprise-class drives for performance or desktop-class drives for lower cost, O'Brien said.
The N2000 is not Overland's first combination NAS/SAN appliance. However, O'Brien said, earlier models put only four hard drives in a 1U space.
The N2000 is currently available with a list price of $4,999 for a 4-TB configuration with four 1-TB hard drives, or $5,999 for an 8-TB configuration with four 2-TB drives, O'Brien said. However, customers who order before late October can purchase the 8-TB version for the 4-TB price, he said.
In addition to giving solution providers 35 points of margin, including 15 points for registered deals, Overland is also providing a $500 rebate to partners on each unit sold, O'Brien said.
"We're offering an attractive price and good margins," he said. "It's a great story to tell."
At those prices, the N2000 should be able to help solution providers compete better with more consumer-oriented storage products commonly used by smaller businesses, O'Brien said.
For instance, the N2000 offers security and iSCSI volume integration under Windows environments, and provides platform security across multiple customer platforms and protocols. It also provides the ability to scale and automate by letting customers plug expansion bays into the back of the appliance.
"Companies who traditionally relied on products from consumer storage providers can look to Overland Storage for more sophisticated solutions that support their business requirements at the same price as a consumer NAS," he said.
Next: New Tape Libraries To Compete With Oracle


