The Newisys NA-1400 is an inexpensive, “toaster-sized,” Linux-based Network Attached Storage (NAS) appliance with up to 2TB of storage. It features a low-power XScale processor, RAID, and room for four hot-swap drives. A 1TB version costs $1,000.

David Barnes, product manager of enterprise and storage at Newisys, describes the NA-1600 as a low-cost box based on readily available parts and technologies. “We leveraged Sanmina-SCI's manufacturing [and] vertical integration capabilities to deliver low-cost leadership in the one terabyte entry-level NAS Appliance market,” Barnes says.

The NA-1600 is a toaster-sized NAS appliance
The NA-1400 supports up to four hot-swappable drives, which can be configured in RAID 0, 1, or 5, using standard Linux RAID software, Barnes says. The drives mount behind a lockable front-panel door.

Supported NAS filesystems and transports include SMB, CIFS, XFS, HTTP, CIM Client, and anonymous FTP, and the device can support up to simultaneous 20 hosts, when equipped with its normal 256MB SDRAM memory.

A web-based management interface includes features such as an ACL (access control list), and system monitoring and reporting tools. Optional features include a Win2000 active directory service, and a journaling filesystem.

The NA-1400 offers dual rear-panel-mounted gigabit Ethernet ports, which can be used to attach to a PC directly, or to attach the NAS device to a LAN. It also includes two front-panel-mounted USB 2.0 ports, which can be used to connect directly to a PC, to expand storage via external USB drives, or to transfer data to and from digital media devices such as cameras and music players. The device comes with print server software supporting USB printers.

Interestingly, the NAS-1400 is actually designed to withstand fairly harsh operating conditions. Newisys lists operating temperature range as 32-122 degrees Fahrenheit (0-50 degress Celsius). It can operate between 8 and 85 percent relative humidity (non-condensing). Shock tolerance is listed as 5Gs operating, and 30G non-operating. The unit can also withstand 1G vibrations between 5- and 500 cycles per second, the company claims. Presumably, these ratings are without drives, however.

Barnes notes that the NA-1600 may be the first four-drive NAS device with an external power supply. Additionally, “a staggered HDD spin-up implementation, allows a power supply of roughly half the Wattage rating as the competition,” he said.

Under the hood

The NA-1400 is based on an Intel XScale 80219 I/O processor clocked at 600MHz. It also includes an Intel 32144 SATA controller.

The NA-1600's “ApplianceWare” Linux operating system is based on a modified Linux 2.6 kernel embedded in a 16MB Flash boot device, which also contains the open source Redboot bootloader.

The kernel boots from flash, but filesystem-specific drivers and other operating system components are actually stored on small partitions on each drive. “This allows for redundancy of this portion of the operating system, should a fatal drive failure occur,” Barnes notes.

The company lists the following key features and specifications:

• Processor — Intel XScale 80219 I/O processor, clocked at 600MHz
• Memory — 256MB DDR SDRAM with ECC (expandable to 512MB)
• Host support — supports up to 20 hosts, when equipped with the default 256MB SDRAM
• Supported NAS filesystems and transports — SMB, CIFS, XFS, HTTP, CIM Client, and anonymous FTP
• Dimensions — 8.7 x 7.2 x 10.2 inches
• Weight — 7.9 pounds
• Embedded OS — ApplianceWare Linux, based on 2.6 kernel

Availability

Newisys demonstrated the NA-1400 at the IDF (Intel Developer Forum) last week in San Francisco. The product is currently shipping in the following configurations:

• NA-1400 640 GB (4 x 160 GB SATA I drives)
• NA-1400 1.0 TB (4 x 250 GB SATA I drives) (priced at $1,000, MSRP)
• NA-1400 1.6 TB (4 x 400 GB SATA I drives)
• NA-1400 2.0 TB (4 x 500 GB SATA I drives)

“[Our] business model [couples] ODM design capabilities with industry leading manufacturing competencies to drive cost/GB levels in a well-featured, entry-level NAS appliance,” Barnes added.

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