Drobo announces new storage arrays aimed at businesses

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Storage company Drobo has announced a new range of redundant storage arrays aimed at businesses, along with the after-sales care to back them up.

Drobo's eponymous multi-disk storage arrays used a RAID-like technology, branded BeyondRAID, to ensure data redundancy but, unlike traditional RAID arrays, can consist of disks of any size and are easier to set up and administer. Many previous Drobo arrays have been aimed at consumers, but the new B series models are aimed specifically at businesses.

The massive B1200i is the most interesting since it has iSCSI support and can accommodate up to 12 disks. It supports tiered storage, so frequently accessed data is stored on the fastest available disk, as well as thin provisioning. It's rack-mountable and has dual, hot-swappable power supplies.

The smaller Drobo B800i and B800fs can take up to eight disks, but the B800fs drops iSCSI support. The B800 models will accept SATA hard disks in any combination of capacities. Oddly, Drobo claims that only the B1200i can accommodate SSDs and SAS hard disks. All three models are backed up by the 24/7 DroboCare service which aims to deliver replacement parts on the same business day any fault is reported.

All three models can now be managed from the new Drobo Management console which aims to provide an animated, but logically organised administration interface whether your Drobos are located on another floor or in another country.

The B800-series Drobos should be available shortly with prices from £1,409, but the B1200i won't be available until April. We'll bring you full reviews as soon as we can.

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