Gigabyte rolled out the GR-EZI14H 4-bay home/SMB NAS server. Almost identical to the GR-EZI04H, launched back in December, 2012; the GR-EZI14H ships with Microsoft Windows Home Server 2011, instead of the custom Linux-based NAS operating system of its older twin. Naturally then, it could come at a small premium.

The GR-EZI14H features a common desktop form-factor measuring 220 x 183.5 x 146.5 mm, with four 3.5-inch SATA drive caddies covered by a common lockable door. Under its hood is an Intel Atom D2500 processor clocked at 1.80 GHz, wired to Intel ICH10R southbridge, which supports up to six SATA 3 Gb/s ports, with RAID 0/1/0+1, 2 GB of DDR3 RAM, and a USB DOM holding the operating system. Connectivity includes two gigabit Ethernet interfaces, two each of USB 3.0, USB 2.0/1.1; and a VGA display output.

Following ASUS' venture into the consumer NAS segment as ASUStor, Gigabyte responded with its own. The company launched its Home NAS family with the GR-EZI04H, a 4-bay consumer NAS based on the Intel Atom platform. Pictured below, it uses a common desktop cube form-factor, with a main lockable door covering its four caddies.

Gigabyte used an interesting combination of hardware. It combined a current-generation Atom D2500 dual-core processor clocked at 1.80 GHz, with an old (yet effective) ICH10R southbridge, instead of the usual NM10 PCH. The ICH10R has been used on high-end Intel 4-series and 5-series platforms, and provides six SATA 3 Gb/s ports with RAID 0/5/10. The GR-EZI04H features two gigabit Ethernet ports, two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0/1.1 ports, and a VGA display output. Its OS, a choice between Windows Home Server 2011 and Embedded Linux, is stored on an mPCIe DOM. Gigabyte used a custom NAS management software that isn't extensively detailed, but features a standard feature-set. More details are awaited.

Building on the legacy of its most successful rack storage solution, LaCie introduces the 4big Rack Office. With full data protection, superior data sharing, and industry-trusted components, the 4big Rack Office is a solid investment for small businesses.

The 4big Rack Office is powered by Windows Home Server 2011. With a straightforward setup process and familiar Windows environment, the 4big Rack Office deploys quickly for small businesses.

The LaCie 4big Rack Office is an excellent solution to keep files and data automatically backed up, organized and accessible," said Nick Parker, VP WW OEM Marketing, Microsoft. "Combining the reliability and ease of use in the Windows platform with LaCie's engineering expertise provides a simple and secure way for small business customers to get cloud connected."

Today LaCie announced the 5big Office Series, its latest five-bay network attached storage solutions. With easy setup, collaboration and total data protection, the 5big Office Series is a solid long-term investment for any small business. They feature the industry-trusted Windows Server operating systems and a powerful Intel Atom processor.

POWERED BY WINDOWS

The 5big Office, powered by Windows Home Server 2011, is perfect for backing up as many as 10 PCs. The 5big Office+, powered by Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials, backs up as many as 25. Get up and running in a flash on either system with a straightforward setup process and a familiar Windows environment. The 5big Office Series helps business groups collaborate like no comparable NAS.

Backed by industry support of the Intel Atom processor optimized for networked storage appliances for the home and small business, Intel Corporation has added two new Intel Atom processors to further boost the company's focus on the platform.

Since Intel's initial foray in this area in March, leading storage manufacturers, including Acer, Cisco, LaCie, LG Electronics, NETGEAR, QNAP, Super Micro, Synology and Thecus have announced products based on the energy-efficient Intel Atom processor platform.

Intel releases its first storage-optimized Intel Atom processor-based platform for the growing home and small office/home office storage markets. New single- and dual-core chip options provide performance scalability and flexibility and run on Microsoft Windows Home Server and Linux operating systems. Leading storage vendors LaCie, LG Electronics, QNAP, Synology and Thecus plan products based on the new Intel Atom processor-based platform. Intel Atom processors also introduced for embedded applications are ideal for multiple market segments including print imaging, digital security surveillance and industrial.

The energy-efficient platform consists of the Intel Atom processor D410 single-core or D510 dual-core and the Intel 82801IR I/O Controller, and delivers the processing performance and input/output (I/O) connectivity required to meet the throughput demands of leading storage vendors such as LaCie, LG Electronics, QNAP, Synology and Thecus.

Home server and SOHO network-attached storage (NAS) devices based on the new Intel Atom processor- based platform act as centralized hubs that organize, manage, protect and share documents, photos, videos and music throughout the home and small office. This makes it possible to keep digital content safe and available anytime, anywhere.

LaCie demonstrates a new network storage server based on the Microsoft Windows Home Server platform. The product will be shown for the first time at the CES. This server leverages the success of LaCie's award winning 5big Network, which features five user-replaceable drives, Gigabit Ethernet, and data protection support for data integrity. The technology demonstration shows that by combining Microsoft and LaCie technologies on a single platform, small business users can enjoy a seamless interface to automatically back up computers to a single server. The server secures their backup both locally and remotely by automatically copying their critical data to the cloud, using LaCie's Wuala technology.

"LaCie's network server offers an exciting design and provides plenty of storage options with terabytes of capacity and the ability to back up data from local computers and to cloud-based services," said Leslie McGuire, Director of Windows Server Marketing at Microsoft. "We're pleased to have LaCie join us as a Windows Home Server partner."

ASUS, a worldwide leader in personal computers, today introduces the TS mini small office/home office (SOHO) server. The TS mini targets modern home and small office users that frequently exchange data from multiple computers and require access from various locations. The TS mini secures documents, multimedia, and other digital content into a sleek repository. It further safeguards data on multiple computers across the home or office with automatic backups and cloud storage. TS mini allows centralized file access with local networks, attached storage devices and remotely over the internet. Equipped with an Intel Atom processor, the TS mini delivers quiet, energy efficient, always-on access. Operating on the Microsoft Windows Home Server Platform, it simplifies management of digital content. The TS Mini is available now for pre-order at Amazon.com and NewEgg.com starting at $349.99 USD.

"Consumer demand for rich content that can be accessed anytime, anywhere, on any device is fueling innovation in networking and storage of media and data in the home," said Seth Bobroff, general manager, Data Center Group - Storage, Intel Corporation. "The Intel Atom processor in the TS mini enables ASUS to deliver the ability to stream media, share files and protect data while remotely accessing it, all in a sleek and energy-efficient 2-bay design."

VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator of power efficient x86 processor platforms, today announced its entry into the design manufacturing service business to offer provide flexible system hardware solutions, starting with the new VIA NSD7200 home storage and media server.

Building on its success as a pioneer of system level innovation in small form factor and IPC markets, VIA can provide OEM and ODM customers with customized versions of home and SOHO storage platforms targeting specific markets. By combining energy-efficient processor platforms and high quality chassis designs with a full design manufacturing service and comprehensive engineering support, VIA enables customers to more accurately address the needs of system integrators and retailers by speeding up product cycles and reducing production costs.

VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator of power efficient x86 processor platforms, today announced the VIA NSR7800 2U rackmount server for network storage solution providers. Powered by a 1.5GHz VIA C7 processor, the VIA NSR7800 offers system integrators the opportunity to provide unparalleled power and energy-efficient server solutions to today's energy-conscious small and medium sized business customers.

With eight 3.5" S-ATA II hard drive bays, the VIA NSR7800 is the perfect balance of power-efficiency, performance and capacity, an ideal starting point for a variety of rackmount server applications including email, file and web server products. The VIA NSR7800's drive bays are easily accessible through lockable front levers that allow hard drives to be securely installed in moments. Dual Gigabit LAN ensures fast data transfer speeds.

HP today launched a home server designed for use with both Windows and Mac computers. Based on the Microsoft Windows Home Server platform, the HP MediaSmart Server ex485/ex487 is a central repository for automatically backing up and accessing digital music, videos, photos and documents from multiple computers on a home network.

The MediaSmart Server automatically organizes files across all PCs, streams media across a home network and the Internet, and publishes photos to popular social networking and photo sharing sites.

Last month we brought information about the first Power Pack for Windows Home Server OS. Today, Microsoft announced the availability of the Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 Release Candidate for public beta testing. Again, this pack should fix the data corruption errors (KB #946676) with Windows Home Server that have plagued the OS since its release. Additional list of known issues are available on the Windows Home Server forums. Download the Windows Home Server Power Pack 1 RC from Microsoft Connect (registration is required).

Note: In an email sent to all beta testers Microsoft suggests that even with the public Power Pack 1 RC installed, users should back up all their files just in case "something happens".

Microsoft has detailed plans to update its Windows Home Server OS with the release of Power Pack 1. Coming soon, most notably the first Power Pack for Home Server will fix the corruption issues that have plagued the OS since its release. The flaw has been acknowledged by Microsoft for some time now, but until now nothing major has been done.

Due to the nature of the shared folder data corruption bug (KB #946676) a broad beta test program with sufficient time for feedback is required. The time line for a final release will depend on this feedback and testing, in order to deliver a fix of the highest quality. To meet our goals for the beta test we need the number of beta testers who are actively using and testing the Power Pack 1 beta to ramp up very quickly

Microsoft issued this statement to all Windows Home Server users. If you want to participate in the Power Pack 1 beta process, head on over to the Microsoft Home Server website.

Microsoft today reported progress on the corruption issue with the Windows Home Server-based computers that have more than one hard drive. First reported in December 2007, an update to the KB article was posted today that provides more information regarding symptoms, cause, status and guidance. You can read the KB here. The Windows Home Server team plans to release beta test versions of a fix over the next few months. The final version of the patch is currently estimated for June 2008, although that date could change as testing progresses.

Microsoft has warned Windows Home Server users not to edit files stored on their backup systems with several of its programs, including Vista Photo Gallery and Office's OneNote and Outlook, as well as files generated by popular finance software such as Quicken and QuickBooks. "When you use certain programs to edit files on a home computer that uses Windows Home Server, the files may become corrupted when you save them to the home server," Microsoft said in a support document posted last week. The document went on to list the software, which includes Windows Vista Photo Gallery, Windows Live Photo Gallery, OneNote 2003, OneNote 2007, Outlook 2007, Microsoft Money 2007 and SyncToy 2.0 Beta. Others programs, however, may also corrupt files stored on a home server powered by Microsoft's operating system. "Additionally, there have been customer reports of issues with Torrent applications, with Intuit Quicken and with QuickBooks program files," the document said. "Until an update for Windows Home Server is available, we recommend that [you] do not use the programs that are listed to save or to edit program-specific files that are stored on a Windows Home Server-based system."

Microsoft's Windows Home Server officially launched earlier this month, is already preparing to be updated. Microsoft says that the new update is "part of the ongoing process of continually enhancing the customer experience with Windows Home Server." The update includes a few feature additions for Windows Home Server. Currently, users who login to their server when away from their home network - through an external URL like https://yourname.homeserver.com - are greeted with a security warning. The November 27 update will now provide users with a trusted SSL certificate for their Windows Home Severs. The SSL certification was provided with the help of Windows Live Domains and GoDaddy. Other new features include a "Delete All" button to remove home computer backups. Microsoft has also taken steps to make the Shared Folders and Server Storage aspects of Windows Home Server more robust and user friendly.

Microsoft is finally ready to roll with its Windows Home Server operating system (OS). The Redmond, Washington-based software company pushed out a release candidate version of the software in June and released it to manufacturing in mid-July. Microsoft Windows Home Server (32-bit) is now available to purchase. Newegg lists the OEM version of the software on its website for $189.99. For more information on Windows Home Server and all of its features, be sure to check the Windows Home Server home page.

Velocity Micro is working on a product titled Windows Home Server which is obviously named after Microsoft's upcoming Windows Home Server OS. First reports say that the Home Server can be oriented horizontally or vertically, uses an Intel Conroe-like processor with DDR2 RAM, has SATA II (with NCQ), gigabit Ethernet, eSATA, and will launch when Microsoft Windows Home Server gets released. Chris Morley, director of product development stated that

The WHS is another piece to our digital home initiative: cable cards, home theather, desktop, living room form-factor ... and it's not the last one