LaCie Announces the Next-Gen Line of NAS Devices for Small to Medium Businesses

LaCie announces next generation line of network storage devices for small to medium-sized businesses: the LaCie d2 Network 2 (single disk), LaCie 2big Network 2 (two disks) and LaCie 5big Network 2 (five disks).

Delivering superb data access of up to 70 MB/s, these professional, reliable central storage devices allow users to share files instantly or back up any PC or Mac on a network. These complete backup solutions are Time Machine compatible and include Genie Backup Manager Pro (Windows) and Intego Backup Manager Pro (Mac). With these applications you can make encrypted, compressed backups, restore office files, and even perform disaster recovery.

These professional solutions feature extensive benefits for IT managers, boasting an intuitive, web-based administration tool organized by easy-to-use widgets. This tool allows you to manage users, groups, and shares, and place disk use quotas easily. Further simplifying user administration is the ability to join a Windows domain using Active Directory, which automatically imports users and respects existing permissions. The administration tool can also be configured to send email alerts in the case of a temperature event or if a disk quota is exceeded.

Designed for flexibility, these desktop solutions fit into any small-to-medium business environment and are ideal for a range of applications. They can be stacked or installed in racks to conserve space, and for the ultimate in flexibility, the LaCie d2 Network 2 and LaCie 2big Network 2 can be connected directly via USB to a PC or Mac. To ensure complete data access, they can even be easily accessed remotely through automatic port forwarding and Dynamic IP integration. The LaCie 2big Network 2 and LaCie 5big Network 2 feature hot-swappable disks and RAID 1 for redundancy, and the 5big Network 2 offers RAID 6 for superior performance and security.

"With superb performance, design and reliability, this next generation of desktop NAS devices achieves new heights in flexibility for small- and medium-sized businesses," said Edin del Mar, LaCie's SOHO NAS Product Manager. "Thanks to major advances in design and usability, this new product line proves LaCie's continued dedication to melding form, function and versatility."

Sturdy aluminum cases, power-saving mode, scheduled deep sleep, and RoHS compliance mean this line of products is designed to be eco-friendly. Wake-on-LAN compatibility means the product can be turned on from a computer without needing to physically be near it.

The LaCie 5big Network 2 has additional features, such as an extra LAN port that permits load balancing or link aggregation for extraordinary Ethernet performance. The product can be configured as an iSCSI target client to add flexibility in corporate IT environments. The LaCie 5big Network 2 also guarantees UPS (uninterrupted power supply) support through USB host ports, which helps it to manage power failures.

Starting at $229, the d2 Network 2 is a single drive NAS with Genie Backup Manager Pro for Windows and Intego Backup Manager Pro for Mac to install on each PC/Mac for client backups. USB and eSATA are available for additional backups and storage options range from 1TB through to 2TB.

At $399.99 the 2big Network 2 is a twin-drive solution with RAID 0 and RAID 1 disk mirroring. Connection to Windows domains using Active Directory is also supported and storage starts at 2TB, rising to 4TB for $649.99.

Finally, the 5big Network 2 is LaCie's five bay network storage device, with capacities from 2.5TB through to 10TB.