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Western Digital subsidiary WD, which specializes in hard drives and storage platforms for small and midsize businesses (SMBs), expanded its product portfolio midmarket companies with the addition of WD Sentinel RX4100, its first 1U rack-mount small business storage server.
The Sentinel line is designed to function as a data protection solution and helps safeguard SMBs against data loss. The RX4100 comes with Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials operating system and includes the software to back up 25 Windows and Mac OS client computers in the network. The product features pre-installed optimized WD hard drives and are factory configured in RAID 5 for data protection against drive failure.
The RX4100 is available with populated drive configurations in 8TB, 12TB and 16TB capacities, through select U.S. distributors and at Western Digital’s online store. Additionally, the Sentinel line of products are available through WD-authorized SMB resellers and value added resellers (VARs) across the United States.
“Following upon the success of our first SMB storage server, the WD Sentinel DX4000, we are responding to customer and partner requests to expand our portfolio with a solution for customers that have a rack-based computing infrastructure,” Thomas Gallivan, vice president of marketing for WD’s SMB solutions group, said in a statement. “The WD Sentinel RX4100 delivers a unified storage solution that’s easy to install, seamlessly integrates into Windows environments with Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials and offers complete data protection and secure remote access to a business’s data.”
In addition to RAID protection, the appliance features automatic server-based backup and restoration capabilities, redundant network and power options, as well as integrated network attached storage (NAS) functionality and iSCSI SAN capabilities for virtualized network environments.The RX4100 is certified to be compatible with a variety of operating systems (OS) including Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8, as well as Mac OS X Leopard, Snow Leopard, Lion and Mountain Lion.
The appliance serves as on-premise cloud storage, securing data in one location in the office that can then be accessed from anywhere, allowing collaboration among employees in distributed offices or among remote workers from any device through a Web browser. WD also offers a third-party disaster recovery option with KeepVault online storage that comes standard in the Sentinel RX4100 dashboard.
The suggested price is $1,899 for the 8TB configuration, $1,999 for the 12TB and $2,349 for the 16TB configuration. In addition, RX4100 SMB storage servers are covered by a three-year limited warranty. And the company’s Guardian Services offers technical support and extended warranty plans with a variety of benefits.
Earlier this month WD announced the launch of its Se line of hard drives, designed for scale-out data center deployments, mid-sized network attached storage (NAS) deployment, and backup and archiving applications. The Se line offers dual actuator technology to improve head positional accuracy over the data tracks, enhanced Rotary Acceleration Feed Forward (RAFF) technology that includes electronics to monitor the drive and correct both linear and rotational vibration in real time, and a dual processor to improve performance.