MS Windows Home Server

We have some more news for you on the CES announced LaCie 5Big Backup Server.

The unit is based on the Atom 64-bit chipset with a single core and will come with 1GB of RAM.

What makes this unit different from the other Home Servers on the market is that it comes with 5 drive bays instead of the normal 4, all 5 of which are lockable and located on the rear of the unit.

It has 4x USB 2.0 ports and a single eSATA port and measures 178 x 220 x 196 mm.

The LaCie will also come with wuala software which is an an online/cloud P2P backup storage service.

No pricing information is currently available but the unit will be available in the US, Europe, Asia and Australia from February/March of this year (2010).

Taiwan based Ablecom Tech have an ideal home for Home Server in the works.

Known as the “CE-HE130S2 Series HD Multimedia Home Server” the unit relies on Windows 7 Media Center to manage media, but it could also be an ideal home for Windows Home Server.

Ablecom’s unit has just passed through the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for certification and the following details have become available.

The unit is powered by the Intel Atom 330 processor and the nVidia ION GPU graphics chipset and supports 5.1 channel audio and has 2 memory slots. There is storage space for 2x internal 2.5 inch hard drives which can be further expanded via 8x USB 2.0 ports and 1x eSATA port.

For your multimedia needs the unit also has a slot-in Blu-ray drive (or optional slot-in DVD+/-RW Drive), a 4in-1 card reader, a mic in and headphone out port, a VGA/DVI/HDMI port, S/PDIF-out both coaxial and optical, and an optional TV Antenna Port.

The unit comes with 1x 500GB SATAII HDD, 1x 2GB DDR2 Memory, wireless b/g/n and gigabit LAN. Also Bluetooth v2.0 and a PS/2 connector for a keyboard are also included.

No details on availability or pricing at present although some details on the CE-HE130S2 are available from here.

Thanks to Wireless goodness for the bottom 2 pics.

British based Tranquil PC have launched series 2 of it’s SQA-5H Home Server.

The SQUASH V2 features a higher performing dual core CPU and comes with 2GB RAM, with the entry level model coming with a 500GB hard drive all the way through to an advanced unit housing a 2TB Green Power hard drive.

Here’s the press release:

Tranquil PC – Manchester UK

7^th January 2010

Home Server Powered by latest Intel D510 CPU

Tranquil PC are pleased to announced the immediate availability of the SQA-5H Series 2 Home Servers.
The established 5x HDD Home Server systems are powered by the latest D510 CPUs from Intel.  This latest CPU is a two chip solution (The D510 – CPU/GFX and the NM10 – I/O) – compared to the previous regular 3 chip solution.  This new CPU + controller has a total TDP of 15W – over 50% power saving when compared to the original systems.

Running the very latest builds of Windows Home Server (PP3) from Microsoft and the AVA Media Add In, the SQA-5H are ideal not only for Home Server duties, but as a tool for automatically creating and centralising your Home Media

The SQA-5H Series 2 systems are now available – and are shipping at the same prices as the original SQA-5H Home Servers

More details from Tranquil PC.

Network drive and storage provider LaCie has announced a network storage server for small business owners based on the Windows Home Server platform.

Inspired by the LaCie 5big Network product, the unit features five user-replaceable drives, Gigabit Ethernet, and also backs up remotely to the cloud using LaCie’s Wuala technology.

Here’s the official press release:

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW, LAS VEGAS (January 5, 2010) – Today 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.”

“Our aim with this technology demonstration is to show that by teaming with Microsoft and through our Wuala cloud storage technology, we can provide an enterprise-grade, data protection solution with both local backup and off-site replication in one low-cost, compact system,” said Erwan Girard, Solutions Business Unit Manager. “By leveraging the groundbreaking Wuala cloud technology, which ensures the highest speed in data upload and download, our server will provide truly usable cloud-based data backup and restore to accommodate the large amounts of data generated by small businesses.”

Additional product details will be available once it is officially announcement in the first quarter of 2010.

Computer hardware site, Tom’s Hardware takes a look at HP’s MediaSmart EX495 Home Server.

The 6 page review compares all three Generations of the HP MediaSmart Server and looks at the software differences between the EX48x and EX49x models.

Processor upgrades are also mentioned with 9 models being looked at as worthy upgrades. Finally the review finishes with a benchmark comparing the EX485 and EX495 alongside a nodded EX485 with an Intel E5200 processor.

You can read it here.

Asus have just announced the TS Mini, a Home Server which is powered by the Intel Atom N280 (1.66GHz) processor and features 2GB DDR2 memory, Gigabit Ethernet, storage space for 2 internal SATA hard drives, with 6 USB ports and 2 eSATA ports for future expansion.

Remarkably the Asus TS Mini consumes only 24.5W when idle and just 27.9W during normal use, an area which is defiantly awesome.

Added on top of the Windows Home Server software, Asus have added their own pieces of software:

WebStorage Service
The Asus TS Mini also offers users a year of free 500GB Web storage space allowing you to boost your storage or synchronize backups online for improved data security. Additionally, you can save large peer-to-peer files on the Web, and share data with user accounts worldwide.

Media Streaming
The TS mini makes it easy for you to stream photos, music, video and other digital content to various devices including TVs, computers, Media PCs, and gaming consoles—for all-around content access as well as allowing you to stream music and multimedia content through the online connection.

Xtor Manager
With the ASUS Xtor Manager, you can directly backup, synchronize and manage your files and folders between external USB and eSATA storage devices and TS mini.

ASWM Management
ASWM, real-time system health monitoring tool, helps users to monitor online and system status of TS mini, including fans, temperature, disks, drives, network, memory and CPU. Once errors occur, the system will instantly send error report to pre-configured email.

The ASUS TS mini is available for pre-order in the US in 500G and 2TB models at $349 and $529, respectively from both Amazon (1) (2) and Newegg (1) (2).

More details are available from here.

For those of you who fancy a read, here is the press release for the Asus TS Mini Home Server:

ASUS Unveils TS Mini Server for Today’s Small Office/Home Office

– Compact, energy efficient and pre-installed with Windows® Home Server, the TS Mini serves the need to access and share content on-demand –

Fremont, California (November 18, 2009) – 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.”  

“We are pleased to welcome ASUS, one of the industry’s leading PC manufacturers, to the Windows Home Server family,” said Leslie McGuire, Microsoft Director of Windows Server Marketing. “Customers tell us they want an easy and inexpensive way to store, manage and protect their digital content. ASUS helps them achieve all of that with their TS Mini Server, which includes a robust option for adding data capacity through external Web storage.” 

(more…)

The latest mini-itx main board from Intel is the D510M0 which is equipped with the Intel Atom Dual Core D510 processor (2x 1.66GHz and 2x 512K cache) and the Intel NM10 Express Chipset, providing more than enough power for a Windows Home Server home build.

As well as the 2x hyper threaded 1.66GHz CPUs (4x CPUs in Task manger) the north bridge controller is on the SAME silicon as the CPUs, improving overall performance.

An early tester of the D510M0 board is Tranquil PC who had this to say:

(We) will be using this new board in numerous new PCs and Servers, including the new MiDASS series of Home Servers.  There is talk, that the board will also be made available on it’s own too.

Due to be shipped in early January 2010 by Tranquil PC the TDP is only 13W (that’s the CPU and the North Bridge) and would suggest that, with suitable air flow, the D510 can be passively cooled by the fitting of a heat sink, making a quiet Home Server solution.

More details are available from here.