Western Digital has taken the wraps off its first storage solution aimed explicitly at the small office market—although we’re sure a few folks with home networks might be interested too. The new WD ShareSpace systems are a four-bay solution offering capacities of up to 4 TB, along with gigabit Ethernet and ease of use designed to make the systems an easy transition for folks already using the company’s external drives.
"With the WD ShareSpace storage system, small offices and home network users can experience the same centralized storage and data protection often found only in big corporate data centers," said WD VP and general manager Jim Welsh, in a statement. "The set-up process is a breeze, so you can be up and running in a matter of minutes."
The WD ShareSpace systems offer RAID 0 (striped), RAID 1 (mirrored) support, along with RAID 5 on the 4 TB system. The ShareSpace systems come with gigabit Ethernet, MioNet remote Web access that let users tap into the drive’s contents from anywhere on the Internet, along with automatic and continuous network backup software for up to three computers. The system supports Microsoft Active Directory and sports a front-facing USB 2.0 port (two more are in back) for transferring data from other drives of flash devices onto the ShareSpace system. The download manager supports FTP and HTTP, and the system includes an iTunes server.
The WD ShareSpace is available now, and goes for $699.99 for the 2 TB configuration, and $999.99 for the 4 TB configuration.
