Western Digital today announced new solutions that provide the foundation for next-generation data infrastructures designed around Ultrastar NVMe SSDs and supercharged by NVMe-oF. Building upon the company's innovative design and integration capabilities - from NAND Flash to storage platforms - the new dual-port, performance Ultrastar DC SN840 NVMe SSDs and in-house RapidFlex NVMe-oF controllers are standalone solutions that combine to create the new OpenFlex Data24 NVMe-oF Storage Platform, a new shared storage JBOF (Just a Bunch of Flash) enclosure that extends the value of NVMe to multiple hosts over a low-latency Ethernet fabric network. These new solutions further expand Western Digital's data center portfolio to help customers transition to higher efficiency NVMe SSDs and more advanced shared storage architectures to meet the evolving demands of performance-driven applications and workloads.

In today's global digital economy, microseconds count. As hyperscale cloud and enterprise data centers constantly work to remove bottlenecks to ensure uncompromised performance and availability of essential applications, while also keeping pace with unprecedented data growth, customer adoption of NVMe and NVMe-oF solutions continues to accelerate. Industry analyst firm IDC expects hyperscalers, OEMs and end-user IT organizations to continue to transition away from legacy SATA and SAS interfaces, with NVMe on track to reach more than 55 percent of total enterprise SSD units shipped in 2020 and grow at a 2018-2023 CAGR of 38 percent.

QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading computing, networking, and storage solution innovator, today launched the TS-x53D 2.5GbE NAS series, available in 2, 4, and 6-bay models. With a quad-core 2.0 GHz processor and dual 2.5GbE connectivity, the TS-x53D series not only provides modern businesses with an excellent 2.5GbE NAS solution, but also satisfies gamers as ample storage for their vast game collections. This reliable and secure NAS series delivers high cost-efficiency by offering more value-added capabilities, including PCIe expansion, multi-cloud backup, cloud storage gateway, 4K HDMI output, and more. The TS-x53D series comes with a 3-year standard warranty, and can be extended up to 5 years with a purchased warranty extension.

"The TS-x53D allows users to upgrade network speeds from 1 Gigabit to 2.5 Gigabit using existing CAT5e cables, and to streamline file backup and sharing, video streaming, and even gaming storage," said Jason Hsu, Product Manager of QNAP. "QNAP's QSW 10GbE/Multi-Gig switch also provides a perfect addition to create a high-speed, future-proof collaborative network environment."

QNAP Systems Inc. today officially released Boxafe, a comprehensive Google G Suite and Microsoft 365 backup solution for enterprises. Boxafe can centrally back up cloud data to a local NAS, which easily safeguards enterprise data.

Many enterprises have adopted Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), and with constant data growth they not only face challenges with insufficient storage space but also the chance of data loss and data recovery limitations. QNAP Boxafe backs up files, emails, calendars and contacts from Google G Suite and Microsoft 365 to a QNAP NAS. IT staff can centrally backup and manage multiple G Suite and Microsoft 365 data and schedule multi-version backup to reduce the risk of data loss. Boxafe also allows users to preview all backup data before restoring.

Synology Inc. today launched a new generation of two and four bay Plus Series NAS, designed as a centralized data management solution for both home and business environments. "Plus series is one of our most popular and versatile product lines," said Hewitt Lee, Director of Synology Product Management Group."The series offers an ideal mix of processing power and advanced capabilities such as containers and virtualization support, in compact and quiet desktop form factors. It is also the starting point for our advanced data protection solutions, enabling small businesses to cost-effectively deploy solutions that can protect their entire IT infrastructure."

Up to 133% faster in website responsiveness and over 15% improvement in compute-tasks, the new Plus series enables you to get things done faster and more efficiently. Two M.2 NVMe slots2 enable accelerated I/O performance, especially in multi-user environments. Synology storage solutions are not only designed to fulfill data management requirements, but centralize backups for Microsoft Windows PCs and Servers, VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V VMs, and Microsoft 365 and G Suite accounts using our Active Backup suite.

QNAP Systems, Inc. today announced that its in-house developed dual-port 16Gb/32Gb Fibre Channel (FC) expansion cards support the latest QuTS hero NAS to provide reliable, secure, and high-performance FC connectivity. A QuTS hero NAS with a QNAP FC card can be easily added to existing FC SAN environments to provide high-performance storage and backup at a more affordable price than typical SAN devices.

"FC SAN are generally closed network environments that often require costly devices with limited deployment flexibility," said Sam Lin, Product Manager of QNAP, adding "By integrating QNAP NAS protocols with Fibre Channel, users can add a more affordable QuTS hero NAS to their existing FC SAN environment, and boost applications that require low latency, high reliability, and fast data transfer, such as post-production studios, financial services, and data centers."
QNAP's new QuTS hero operating system uses ZFS to provide users with powerful data reduction, enhanced data integrity, and optimal performance.

QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading computing, networking and storage solution innovator, announce the release of Qsirch 5.0 - a fast, full-text search engine with the following new features: search by image, text search in images and auto-archiving files. Qsirch enables users to find files based on their filename, content, and metadata. Qsirch 5.0 adds integration with the QuMagie Core AI engine to identify objects and people in photos, allowing users to find images using keywords or by finding other images of the same person by clicking on their face.

OCR technology is now included in Qsirch 5.0, allowing the detection of text within image files and for these files to be found using keywords. The new auto-archiving feature leverages Qfiling to perform one-time or automatic archiving tasks based on search criteria. "Integration with the QuMagie Core AI engine and Qfiling provides QNAP NAS users with easy and convenient file searching." said Josh Chen, Product Manager of QNAP.

TerraMaster, a professional brand that specializes in providing innovative storage products, including network attached storage (NAS)devices, announces the availability of qBittorrent and Transmission applications to select TerraMaster devices. Both qBittorrent and Tranmission are popular and easy to use free BitTorrent clients. qBittorrent is a free and reliable P2P BitTorrent and an open-source software alternative to major BT clients. On the other hand, Transmission BT is also an open-source, volunteer-based BT client and doesn't play games with its users to make money. Both HD BT download apps are now added to the TerraMaster TOS system application for TNAS users. The apps allow your TNAS to become a remote offline download tool.

qBittorrent is a cross-platform, lightweight, feature-rich, open-sourcetorrent client. It runs and provides similar features across all major platforms which include Windows, macOS, OS/2, Linux, and FreeBSD. qBittorrent is based on the Qt toolkit and libtorrent-rasterbar library.

ASUSTOR today has officially announced the release of the ten bay Lockerstor 10 Pro sporting a 9th generation Intel Xeon Quad-Core processor. The Xeon E-2224 runs at 3.40 GHz and turbos to 4.60 GHz, making everything faster than ever, especially transfer speeds, virtual machines and Docker apps. The Lockerstor 10 Pro comes with eight Gigabytes of DDR4-2666 ECC memory and supports up to thirty-two Gigabytes of RAM. The ECC RAM included with the NAS corrects memory errors in real-time and helps avoid data loss caused by memory corruption, keeping critical data safe.

In terms of transmission speed, the Lockerstor 10 Pro provides a single 10-Gigabit Ethernet connection as well as triple 2.5-Gigabit Ethernet ports. With the all-new Intel Xeon processor, Link Aggregation on the 2.5-Gigabit ports, up to 7.5 Gbps of bandwidth can be achieved while the 10-Gigabit port brings the full 1.25 GB/s speeds. The Lockerstor 10 Pro also features dual M.2 SSD slots, which support a variety of m.2 form factors and thumbscrews for easy installation. With NVMe SSD caching, the performance of traditional HDD hard drives is quickly upgraded to SSD levels, bringing the best of both storage and speed. The Lockerstor 10 Pro also features USB 3.2 Gen2 which provides up to 10 Gbps of speed and supports up to 192 TB of extra capacity using the AS6004U for a total of 160+192 TB.

Western Digital has been hit by a class-action lawsuit over alleged false advertising over some of its WD Red hard drives featuring undocumented DM-SMR (drive-managed shingled magnetic recording), a physical layer data writing technique that maximizes capacity at heavy costs of random write performance, that effectively render the drives unfit for RAID applications that are common with NAS setups. Trouble brewed for Western Digital in April, as a Blocks & Files report exposed presence of SMR on certain popular WD Red drives as an explanation as to why the drives couldn't be added to RAID volumes.

Western Digital initially tried to defend its position by explaining what DM-SMR is, that the standard WD Red has been tested on most SOHO NAS devices, that they're not meant for serious (> 8-drive) NAS setups; and pointing people to their pricier WD Red Pro, or enterprise-segment Ultrastar HDDs, leading to more community backlash. Days later, Western Digital finally came out with a list of its HDDs that use SMR. Bellevue Washington-based Hattis & Lukacs, class-action specialists, are leading the charge against Western Digital, and are inviting aggrieved U.S. residents to join the class.

QNAP Systems Inc, a leading computing, networking and storage solution innovator, has collaborated with Microsoft to integrate Office for the web into QTS, the QNAP NAS operating system. With this new feature, QTS users can right-click on Office documents and select "Edit with Office Online" to facilitate direct editing of Microsoft Office documents in the web browser, eliminating the complex and time-consuming conventional workflow of download, edit, and re-upload.

Office for the web is Microsoft's free online service that enables viewing and editing of Microsoft Office documents, including Word documents, Excel worksheets, and PowerPoint presentations, in a web interface. QNAP NAS users with proper document access permissions can quickly and easily launch Office for the web in the same browser window, boosting productivity and streamlining workflow.

Infortrend Technology, Inc., the industry-leading enterprise storage provider, developed a cost-effective backup and restore solution of massive amounts of enterprise data. With both scale-out and scale-up expandability, it adds value for price-conscious data-rich applications, such as governmental institutions files backup, surveillance footages storing. As a Veeam Ready Repository, CS can be as well deployed in IT environments applying virtualization technologies.

System crashes, human errors, malicious attacks, viruses, and physical disasters always happen unexpectedly. Thus, it is difficult to overestimate the role of backup infrastructure with expandable capacity and reliable restore capabilities for ensuring business continuity. EonStor CS scale-out NAS is expandable up to 144 nodes to achieve 100GBps overall throughput and 100PB capacity for large-scale backup requirements or connecting JBOD to expand capacity only for saving costs. CS offers a rich selection of form factors, including high-density 4U 60-bay for space-constraint server rooms.

QNAP Systems, Inc., today launched the quad-core 1.7 GHz TS-431KX NAS with 10GbE SFP+ connectivity. The TS-431KX provides high bandwidth for intensive data transmission, allowing SMB and startups to easily backup/restore and synchronize data without breaking their budget. The TS-431KX supports Snapshot technology and HBS (Hybrid Backup Sync) local, offsite and cloud backup that enable a well-rounded disaster recovery plan to ensure uninterrupted services.

The TS-431KX is powered by a quad-core 1.7 GHz processor, 2GB RAM (upgradable to 8 GB) with one 10GbE SFP+ and two 1GbE network ports. Coupled with a QNAP QSW series 10GbE/NBASE-T network switch, users can easily build a high-speed 10GbE network environment to achieve faster and streamlined workflows. Featuring tool-less and lockable drive bays, the TS-431KX makes installation easier while also ensuring the drives are safe and secure.

QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading computing, networking and storage solution innovator, today launched the new lightweight, quiet, and feature-rich TS-230 NAS that can easily fit into any living environment. Adorned with a refreshing baby blue hue, the TS-230 is ideal for home and daily central storage, back up, photo and video sharing. All digital assets on the TS-230 are securely protected by the powerful snapshot function. Coupled with multimedia apps and transcoding feature support, the TS-230 is an ideal entry-level NAS for creating a smart and fun lifestyle.

The TS-230 uses a Realtek RTD1296 quad-core 1.4 GHz processor and built-in 2 GB DDR4 RAM for meeting personal and home NAS applications. It provides one Gigabit port and supports SATA6 Gbps disk drives, AES-256 encryption, and SSD caching. The cooling fan uses an HDB type Sintetico bearing fan for maintaining high airflow and low noise, providing better cooling for the TS-230 to ensure constant system operation. The tool-less hard drive installation makes TS-230 setup easy even for a NAS newbie.

QNAP Systems, Inc. (QNAP), a leading computing, networking and storage solution innovator, has added support for Zabbix, the Enterprise-class Network Monitoring Software. With Zabbix, system integrators and IT professionals can easily use QNAP NAS as Centralized Network Management Platforms to control multiple edge devices in real time. Administrators can also deploy Zabbix on multiple NAS to enable Distributed Network Architecture on medium/large-sized networks or to apply High Availability for enhanced network management efficiency and security.

With SNMP compliance and a Web GUI, Zabbix allows users to monitor network services and the CPU utilization, network usage, memory and storage capacity of all the connected SNMP-compliant servers/devices via the Dashboard and Analysis Report. If a default error occurs (for example, a network server is down), administrators are promptly notified via email and SMS, ensuring real-time network control and efficient troubleshooting.

QNAP Systems, today introduced the new dual-core 2.0 GHz short depth rackmount 4-bay NAS - TS-451DeU. Featuring a compact 1U 12-inch-depth chassis that allows easy installation in small media cabinets or places with a lot of cabling, the TS-451DeU provides dual 2.5 GbE ports, two M.2 2280 SATA 6 Gb/s SSD slots, storage scalability, and highly-anticipated business and media features. The TS-451DeU is an ideal cost-effective entry-level rackmount NAS.

"The TS-451DeU presents a modern 2.5 GbE NAS solution for businesses to tackle everyday tasks like file backup/restore, and to boost team collaboration with higher productivity," said Jason Hsu, Product Manager of QNAP, adding "As the short depth design is suited for media cabinets, the TS-451DeU is also an ideal multimedia server with the support of video streaming and transcoding."

QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading computing, networking and storage solution innovator, today launched the quad-core TS-x31K series NAS (including 1-bay, 2-bay and 4-bay models) that provides centralized data backup and management, easy file access and sharing, feature-rich multimedia applications and secure Snapshots protection. Featuring a compact pure white minimalist design, the TS-x31K blends in with any home décor and takes up very little space, making it an ideal solution for home users to build reliable private cloud storage.

The TS-x31K series is powered by a quad-core 1.7 GHz processor for exceptional home performance. With 1 GB RAM, Gigabit LAN (1-bay: one GbE port; 2-bay and 4-bay: two GbE ports), SATA 6 Gb/s, and AES-256 bit encryption, the TS-x31K delivers fast and stable connectivity. Featuring tool-less and lockable drive bays, the TS-x31K makes installation easier while also ensuring the drives are safe and secure.

QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading computing, networking and storage solution innovator, today announced its collaboration with Backblaze, Inc. ("Backblaze"), a US-headquartered data storage provider, for the integration of Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage into several QNAP solutions, including HybridMount, VJBOD Cloud, and Hybrid Backup Sync 3 (HBS 3). With Backblaze B2, QNAP NAS users can now enjoy a cloud storage service that is easy, affordable, and predictable.

"By supporting the advanced Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage, we've provided QNAP NAS users with greater choice in building fast, cost-effective, and expandable hybrid cloud solutions," said Josh Chen, product manager of QNAP.

Seagate Technology plc (NASDAQ: STX) today reported financial results for its fiscal third quarter ended April 3, 2020. "Seagate executed very well in the third quarter while navigating the unprecedented challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our teams worked tirelessly to safeguard the health of their colleagues, support customer demand, and execute our product roadmap. In this challenging environment, we achieved strong financial performance, delivering revenue and non-GAAP EPS that were above our guidance midpoint and continuing to generate solid free cash flow," said Dave Mosley, Seagate's chief executive officer.

"Our results demonstrate the resilience of our business model, which combined with our strong balance sheet and liquidity offer stability to manage through this uncertain environment. Over the long-term, we believe the strength of our technology innovation and product portfolio position Seagate well to capitalize on secular demand for mass capacity storage as well as the growing necessity for cost effective data management solutions driven by the transition to IT 4.0."

QNAP Systems, Inc. (QNAP), a leading computing, networking and storage solution innovator, today introduced the brand new QuTS hero NAS operating system that integrates the app-based QTS with a 128-bit ZFS file system to provide flexible storage management, comprehensive data protection and optimized performance to meet business-critical application needs. Meanwhile, QNAP rolled out the special edition QNAP NAS— the TS-h1283XU-RP, TS-h1277XU-RP, and TS-h977XU-RP— with QuTS hero preinstalled and multi-core computing power, providing more powerful, reliable and cost-effective NAS solutions for demanding IT applications.

"The QuTS hero edition is the evolved QTS that integrates ZFS advantages with multiple cost-free apps that expand NAS functionality, delivering overall improvements in data integrity, performance, and managerial flexibility," said Sam Lin, Product Manager of QNAP, adding "Faced with explosive data growth, VDI popularity, increasing SSD adoption, 8K media, and other disruptive IT trends, modern businesses can count on QuTS hero solutions to meet future demands and achieve maximized IT efficiency."

Earlier this week, Western Digital was in the line of fire when it emerged that several of its WD Red family of "NAS-optimized" hard drives allegedly employ some form of shingled magnetic recording (SMR), a physical-layer data writing technique that maximizes density at a heavy cost of random write performance that effectively makes the HDDs unfit for use in RAID volumes, and in turn most NAS applications that commonly employ RAID and encourage end-users to build RAID volumes for data redundancy. A new report by Blocks & Files finds that the issue is more widespread than previously thought, and that even Seagate employs it without disclosure on certain models.

Several of Seagate's higher capacity Barracuda desktop internal hard drives use SMR without disclosing it in their data-sheets. These include the 8 TB ST8000DM004, and 5 TB ST5000DM000. Both these drives are sold under the Barracuda Compute brand, which markets "home servers, entry-level DAS, and desktop computers" among its use-cases. Seagate does market its Archive and Exos lines of HDDs are employing SMR, but mention of the technique is buried in their data-sheets, and not prominently in product marketing or packaging. Archive and Exos are targeted at bulk cold storage setups where capacity is more important than performance. Meanwhile, Toshiba has confirmed that its Desktop HDDs too employ SMR. The company's MQ04 2.5-inch and DT02 3.5-inch HDDs employ "managed SMR" (i.e. use conventional recording and switch to SMR as the platters are running out of space).

Western Digital launched the WD Red line of hard drives and solid state drives specifically for NAS applications. The rigors of NAS involves not just near 24x7 uptime, but also the ability to work in RAID volumes, as most NAS servers ease the process for end users to set up RAID volumes for data redundancy. Data Storage-focused tech publication Blocks & Files alleges that some WD Red HDDs are shipping with shingled magnetic recording (SMR), a physical-layer data recording technique that makes the drive unfit for RAID, and in turn unfit for most serious NAS setups.

SMR is a recording technique that aims to achieve higher data density per platter, by partially overlapping tracks, by taking advantage of write tracks being wider than read tracks. Think of it as trying to cram a little more than one line of text per ruling, in a ruled notepad. The biggest trade-off with cramming in more data using SMR is a heavy loss in random write performance. The controversy of Western Digital shipping SMR WD Red drives came to light when Alan Brown, a network administrator with the UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory, noticed that a brand new WD Red HDD kept getting kicked out of RAID arrays during resilvering (rebalancing of data with the addition of a new disk to an existing RAID array).

In response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses have adopted work from home policies. Synology's wireless routers feature powerful VPN server capabilities that enable businesses to quickly facilitate a remote workforce. Starting from April 6, Synology VPN Plus licenses will become free to purchase until September 30, 2020.

"We have seen many businesses rushing to adopt VPN solutions in order to set up an infrastructure to enable a remote workforce. Over the past two months, we have seen a five-fold increase in VPN Plus license purchases," said Hewitt Lee, Director of Synology Product Management Group. "As the situation continues to develop in unprecedented ways, we understand that many are uncertain of how to maintain business continuity. Synology is offering VPN Plus licenses for free in an effort to help businesses resume operations remotely."

TerraMaster, a professional brand that specializes in providing innovative storage products, is proud of its competitive and affordable network-attached storage that offers the best-in-class pricing as well as feature set with the F2-210.The TerraMaster F2-210 NAS allows easy, centralization of your multimedia files so you can enjoy them throughout your network or through the cloud, so users don't need to worry about sharing your files in multiple devices. The F2-210 simplifies and streamlines the storage, setup and consumption of your multimedia content whether it be home movies, family photos or your music library, the F2-210 puts them all in one place to make things more accessible.

The F2-210 supports both Emby and Plex media servers to centralize all your multimedia content. Whether it be videos, music or photos, whichever your media server or choice is, you can use the power of either Emby or Plex to catalog and streamline your content library all in one place. Go from powerful data storage to a powerful, feature-rich entertainment center, Emby and Plex both offer exceptional and easy to use interfaces as well as robust organization tools so you can access and organize your data all in one central app.

Seagate Technology plc, a world leader in data solutions, today announced the latest in high-performance solutions for multi-user NAS environments, adding to their award-winning IronWolf SSD product line. Seagate's IronWolf 510 is an M.2 NVMe SSD with caching speeds of up to 3 GB/s for NVMe-compatible systems and is ideal for creative pros and business NAS needing 24x7 multi-user storage that is cache enabled.

The IronWolf 510 SSD meets leading top NAS manufacturer requirements of one drive write per day (DWPD), allowing multi-user NAS environments to do more with their data with lasting performance. The IronWolf 510 SSD is reliable with 1.8 million hours mean time between failures (MTBF) in a PCIe form factor, two years of Rescue Data Recovery Services, and a five-year limited warranty. IronWolf Health Management helps analyze drive health and will soon be available on compatible NAS systems.

QNAP Systems, Inc. today launched the 2-bay TS-251D NAS. Powered by an Intel J4005 dual-core processor, the TS-251D can be used with QNAP's smart AI photo management application, QuMagie, which integrates AI image recognition to group similar photos together in album "People", "Things" and "Places". The 4K media transcoding and streaming capabilities of the TS-251D brings users an excellent and satisfying cross-device multimedia experience. The TS-251D also provides a PCIe slot for expanding its core functionality.

Powered by an Intel Celeron J4005 dual-core 2.00 GHz processor (burst up to 2.7 GHz), DDR4 RAM (up to 8 GB), one Gigabit LAN port, and supports SATA 6 Gbps drives. The TS-251D provides dependable read/write speeds and Intel AES-NI 256 hardware-accelerated encryption to secure sensitive and confidential data on the NAS. The TS-251D also supports snapshots, allowing users to quickly recover data in the event of accidental deletion/modification or ransomware attack.