NAS News

The company said that the line is designed for up to 200-user businesses, providing up to 6 TB of storage in a small desktop format.

The Pros are the first ReadyNASes to use an Intel dual-core processor and come with 1 GB of DDR2 memory that is user-expandable up to 4 GB. Dual redundant gigabit Ethernet ports provide network connection with load balancing and failover modes.

Netgear has also opted to make its FrontView OS an open platform with an SDK and SSH root access.

Up to six SATA II hard drives in six lockable, hot-swappable disk trays can be configured in RAID 0, 1, 5, 6 and auto-expandable X-RAID2 formats that NETGEAR says will deliver up to 108 MB/s read and 102 MB/s write.

Other features include three USB 2.0 ports for external USB drives, printers and battery backup devices, OLED status display, iSCSI target support, and email reports and alerts. SMB/CIFS, AFP and NFS network file systems are supported along with HTTP/S file browsing, FTP/S file transfer and Rsync for network backup.

The Pro line can also serve high-end consumers with a full complement of media services including UPnP AV, Logitech Squeeze Center, Apple iTunes, Windows MCE, Sonos music systems, Network DVD and PS3 and Xbox 360.

The ReadyNAS Pro comes in three models: 1.5TB (RNDP6350); 3TB (RNDP6310); and 6TB (RNDP6610). All are available now at MSRPs starting at $2000.