Midranse Windows-powered NAS devices

摘要

Microsoft's release of its Windows 2002 Server Appliance Kit two years ago let traditional server vendors such as Dell, HP and IBM enter the network-attached storage appliance market, which had been dominated by Auspex, EMC and Network Appliance. Today, Windows-powered NAS devices have about a 25% share of this market, according to IDC. We invited all vendors with Windows SAK-based products to participate in a comparative review―including Dell, IBM and Iomega―only HP and Inline were game to play. The Network World Blue Ribbon Award goes to HP's StorageWorks NAS b2000 primarily on the strength of its performance. Inline, with its FileStorm 4550, sported some innovative features but came up short when otherwise compared. We evaluated the appliances in four categories: ease of installation and management, hardware configuration, features, and performance.