The QNAP TS-470 is an excellent choice for the small or medium-size business looking for a secure, scalable, and reliable NAS solution. Equipped with a dual-core Intel Celeron processor, 2GB DDR3 RAM and four Gigabit LAN ports, this 4-bay NAS delivers great performance as well as a multitude of features for modern business environments. Along with an intuitive, easy to use web interface, the TS-470 offers centralized, cross platform file sharing and backups, private cloud storage, SSD caching and iSCSI/IP-SAN storage with VMware, Citrix and Microsoft Hyper-V virtualization support.
As you'd expect of a NAS of this caliber, the TS-470's performance was quite good. In our tests, the device was able to read and write at more than 112 MB/s using only a single NIC. The SSD cache also gave the TS-470's random read performance a considerable boost, increasing, in some cases, the number of IOPS by more than 20x.
One of the best things about the TS-470 is the ability to extend its functionality to meet a business' growing data storage need. The pre-installed dual-port Gigabit NIC can be replaced with an optional 10GbE adapter for greater throughput. Otherwise, if you need more storage, the TS-470 can be scaled up to 36 hard drives by connecting additional expansion enclosures. The built-in App Center also provides more than 100 install-on-demand applications, including tools for backup/sync, business, content management, communications, entertainment, surveillance, and more.
The TS-x70 series is available now in 4, 6 and 8-drive configurations. Prices on Amazon range from $968 for the 4-bay TS-470 to $1300 for the 8-bay TS-870.
Highs:
- Powered by dual-core Intel Celeron processor
- Four hot-swap drive bays with key lock
- Supports RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, JBOD and single disk configurations
- File sharing and backups for Windows, Mac and Linux clients
- Web, database, print and FTP servers
- Supports iSCSI protocol for virtualized and clustered environments
- Four Gigabit Ethernet ports
- Multiple USB 3.0 and eSATA expansion ports
- Built-in HDMI interface
- Easy to use web interface
- Remotely accessible from web browsers and mobile devices
- Supports SSD caching
- Can be upgraded to support 10 GbE
- Storage can be scaled up using expansion enclosures
- Very well constructed
- Quiet operation
- 2 year warranty
Lows:
- Pricey
- Does not come with any hard drives
