LaCie Launches 2big NAS for Small Businesses

LaCie likes to launch network-attached storage devices from time to time, for consumers or businesses of various sizes, and this is one of those times. 

LeCie isn't really big on intricate designs and aesthetic embellishments, nor does it ever put too much effort into making its devices small and easy to hide. Instead, it makes sure that the outside of its NAS (network-attached storage) devices looks reasonably nice and invests all the rest of its attention into the hardware and software support. 

The newest NAS to come forth is called 2big and is aimed at small businesses that wish to keep their data not just centralized and network-accessible, but safe and sound as well. Having the two HDDs operate in RAID 1 mode, for instance, enables data mirroring. Secondly, the NAS OS 2 dashboard automatically backs up the data (NAS-to-NAS or to a direct-attached external HDD). You can even schedule a nightly backup. 

The drives are hot swappable too, which means that you won't lose files when a disk eventually fails.  "According to data from Research and Markets, network storage is growing in excess of 30% annually, increasing the demands placed on network storage devices," said Erwan Girard, professional business unit manager at LaCie. 

"The LaCie 2big NAS was developed to scale with the needs of SOHO users, delivering fast file sharing and data security, the two most critical factors for a small business." LaCie's 2big NAS has a 2 GHz processor and transfers data at up to 100 MB/s to and from a PC, Mac or Linux system, regardless of location. A company's employees are able to access the data from any spot with an Internet connection. Even iPhones and iPads can be used in fact, via the LaCie MyNAS app. 

Finally, for energy efficiency, a very deep sleep mode (with wake-on-LAN) can be entered and users can schedule restarts and shutdowns. Go here to place an order, for $399 /313 Euro (0 TB) or $649 / 510 Euro (6 TB).

Posted in: Hardware, Preview