Data storage users don’t usually think of Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) when they consider hardware purchases, but the networking giant hopes to change that with new small business storage arrays unveiled today.
The NSS 300 series devices start at $913 for a two-bay appliance with no drives, while a 12TB six-bay unit sells for $5625. David Tucker, vice president and general manager of Cisco’s small business technology group, said two of the appliances could be connected and managed as one network-attached storage (NAS) device, doubling capacity.
The devices are aimed at organizations with as few as 10 users and as many as 500, with the “sweet spot” at 30 to 50 users, said Tucker.
The NSS 300 appliances offer Windows, Linux, Mac and iSCSI support, RAID data protection levels 0, 1, 5 and 6, disk encryption and hot swappable drives, and they come with five USB and two eSATA ports and an iSCSI interface.
Cisco also offers applications with the new offerings, including Web server and WordPress publishing and syslog and RADIUS server.
Cisco has partnered with QNAP on the Linux-based systems, which are aimed at competitors such as HP (NYSE: HPQ) and NetGear (NASDAQ: NTGR), and Tucker said Cisco’s channel partners like what they see.
“This space is really exploding and we’re seeing a lot of competition,” Tucker said. “We want to make sure we’re leading the market.”
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