Thecus Intros N5550 5-Bay NAS

There is a new network-attached storage device up for order, or there will be as soon as Thecus decides the time is ripe for retailers to list the thing or put it up on a shelf.

The product covered in the most recent press release on the company's part is called N5550 and goes one step beyond what most things of this type bother with.

That is to say, where most NAS devices don't have more than 4 bays, this one has a full set of five.

An Intel Atom processor runs the device. Alas, the exact model is unspecified, both in the announcement and on the product page. We are reasonably certain it is a Cedar Trail though.

Either way, the CPU is backed by 2 GB of random access memory (DDR3).

Moving on, the N5550 is equipped with USB 3.0 connectivity, as well as HDMI, VGA, audio ports and a small LCD display which shows drive status and such.

That's right, Thecus's invention can very well act as a full-fledged PC, since speakers can be directly attached, as can a keyboard and mouse, plus a monitor, TV or even a projector.

As if the hardware assets weren't enough, Thecus even installed McAfee Antivirus.

All things considered, it is not so odd that the company describes this thing as an item good for almost every sort of operation involving storage and the network.

The list goes like this: multi-user environments, data encryption, application serving, heavy RAID computations, HD multimedia streaming, web hosting, intense backup, etc.

Finally, the N5550 is CE/FCC/C-Tick/VCCI/BSMI, RoHS, WEEE, Vmware and Citrix-certified, relies on a 200W Power Supply and boasts a tower metal case measuring 230 x 190 x 240 mm (9.05 x 7.48 x 9.44 inches). Go to the aforementioned product page for all the details (price and availability not included).

Posted in: Hardware, Preview