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The key to success in the small and medium-sized business (SMB) market is the channel and Data Robotics just landed one of the biggest channel partners it could hope for. The company today announced that HP (NYSE: HPQ)is now selling the Drobo line of SMB storage systems, including the new Drobo S.
First, the new product. The Drobo S features USB 3.0 connectivity with support for multiple storage volumes and up to 32TB of storage capacity. The Drobo S utilizes Drobo’s BeyondRAID technology, which allows for non-disruptive capacity expansion through the addition of new drive technologies.
The Drobo S is backwards compatible with USB 2.0 systems (laptops, PCs and servers) to provide investment protection and “future-proofing.”
Jim Sherhart, senior director of marketing, Data Robotics, said the performance of the USB 3.0 interface boosts the speed of the Drobo S to as much as ten times that of USB 2.0 storage devices. “We’re on the cutting edge in terms of actual USB 3.0 silicon with a USB 3.0 solution that supports the notion of multiple volumes. Customers can now increases the size of their arrays with bigger drives as they become available,” said Sherhart.
Second, and more importantly, the new Drobo S will be available through HP’s Small Business Direct online store beginning this week. HP will also sell the Drobo, Drobo FS, and DroboPro models.
“Our storage products will be featured in HP’s online store. We are putting a lot of wood behind this arrow to make sure it’s successful,” said Sherhart.
The Drobo S is available at a starting price of $799 with multiple configurations up to $1,799 for a 10TB bundle.
In addition, the company announced the availability of Drobo Sync, the easiest to use remote backup software, for its new DroboPro FS product family. Originally announced last month and available today, Drobo Sync is included free of charge with all new DroboPro FS models.
The DroboPro FS (file sharing) is an eight-drive NAS appliance that can be configured with 2TB SATA drives. Users can mix and match drive speeds (rotation rates) and manufacturers.
Drobo Sync provides asynchronous, block-level replication for uni-directional offsite backup. Only changed data is sent over the wire.
Drobo Sync is free with the purchase of any new DroboPro FS and is available as a free software upgrade to existing DroboPro FS customers. The DroboPro FS is available at a starting price of $1,999 with multiple configurations up to $3,299 for a 16TB bundle.
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