The NX300 is a 1u, four-drive
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rack mounted system that supports nearline SAS and SATA drives, and scales to 4 TB. Like all Windows Storage Server 2008-based NAS systems, the NX300 supports single instant storage (SIS) to eliminate duplicate files and a single-namespace distributed file system (DFS). At around $3,000, the NX3000 is the lowest priced of Dell's NAS products, which include other PowerVault systems as well as the NX4 platform it sells through its partnership with EMC Corp.
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"It provides relief for application servers," Hart said. "A lot of SMBs run application servers, keep loading them up, turn on file services, and before you know it they have a poorly performing system. Most SMB customers are not backing up their clients, so by having a centralized file server that takes all those files and consolidates them, we can take advantage of snapshotting and replicating tools to back up those critical files."
The NX300 is the second Windows Storage Server 2008 NAS box launched by Dell. It brought out the PowerVault NX3000 in June. The 3000 is a 2u six-drive box that can be used as a gateway to Dell's EqualLogic and EMC Clariion SANs.
The NX300 will compete primarily with the Hewlett-Packard StorageWorks X1000, although the HP X1000 includes iSCSI for multiprotocol support. Both are rack mounted systems.
"Network attached storage is becoming increasingly important to SMBs," said Ray Boggs, IDC's VP of SMB and home office research. "They're looking for storage capacity as well as advanced networking capabilities. And rack mounted systems are becoming increasingly popular among small and midsized companies."