Taiwan's QNAP Systems has today unveiled its Atom-based TS-439 Pro Turbo NAS.
Pictured below, the TS-439 Pro Turbo makes use of netbook-like hardware in the form of Intel's 1.6GHz Atom processor and 1GB of DDR2 memory. Replacing the traditional Intel Celeron-based innards, the Atom processor should provide adequate power for NAS functionality whilst offering greater power efficiency.
The unit offers four hot-swappable drive bays and provides support for RAID 0/1/5/6/5+spare configurations. It currently supports 1.5TB hard-disk drives (no news on 2TB support yet) and features five USB ports, two eSATA ports and dual Gigabit Ethernet.
Troy Lin, QNAP product manager, states:
The TS-439 Pro Turbo NAS presents a new definition of high scalability, high redundancy, large storage capacity and high stability NAS in the current market. The 4-bay NAS supports up to 6TB storage capacity which can be further expanded by connecting external hard drives to the five USB ports and two eSATA ports. Yet, the NAS is able to maintain low power consumption by the energy-saving Intel CPU which allows 24x7 operation in the business environment.
Despite openly boasting the unit's energy-saving Atom processor, it turns out that the TS-439 Pro Turbo isn't QNAP's first Atom-based NAS unit. The TS-639 Pro Turbo launched last month is also secretly hosting Atom innards and offers a total of six drive bays.
There's no word on TS-439 Pro Turbo pricing just yet, but the larger TS-639 Pro Turbo is available from Scan.co.uk* at a cost of £919.99.
Atom-based NAS boxes are certain to prove popular, we feel, and we'd expect various other manufacturers to follow-up with Atom-powered alternatives of their own. What we'd really like to see, however, is a two-bay Atom-based NAS at a low-cost price point for the home user.
Official press release: QNAP Announces the World's First 4-Bay Intel Atom-based NAS - TS-439 Pro Turbo NAS
*As always, UK-based HEXUS.community discussion forum members will benefit from the SCAN2HEXUS Free Shipping initiative, which will save you a further few pounds plus also top-notch, priority customer service and technical support backed up by the SCANcare@HEXUS forum.
