How networked are you right now? I’m not asking regarding your internet connectivity at the moment, although the answer to that also comes into play later in this entry.

Nor is it a question on how many friendster and myspace connections you have. Rather what I mean to find out is how many wires and/or hotspots you have at home, and how many devices you have connected to a network. Is your home hosting an internet gaming center with a hundred computers? Or is it a single-computer home with but one connection to the internet?

                                              What Dad thought I'd end up with...

Until very recently, my household was a single computer abode. I had my stalwart broadband modem and my trusty LAN connection, what more could I want? Well it turns out that it wasn’t what I want that counts (never was I guess haha), because recently my absolute authority-figure and co-conspirator (let’s call him “Dad”) wanted to be able to check e-mail through his laptop anywhere in the house – including the bedroom and the loo.

Well, being the dutiful son that I am, I went out and bought a WiFi Router to throw out my broadband to all parts of the household. And with this I discovered an outlet for my geek – skills that have lain dormant for a long time, since the last time I tried to volt-mod my old GeForce 3 video card.

My newly-bought router had a “one-button” setup process – but it turns out that it only works if you have other products with the same brand. The setup process was convoluted and required an appreciable amount of research for it to get up and running, but I didn’t mind too much. With this new surge of geeky adrenaline coursing through me, I discovered along with my research a dozen new ways to spread my network through many functions and many devices. One of these discoveries was the ReadyNAS NV+ that was locally launched in an event that I was coincidentally attending.

                                              Never mind "how much it holds" - it's purty...

The ReadyNAS NV+ (NV from now on) is Netgear’s entry into the prosumer and SMB network attached storage markets. Some of us may be familiar with the 1U, 2U classifications for server rackmount sizes. Netgear produces many products based on these classifications, but now with this NV product, Netgear has branched out with the desktop – type form factor that is favored by the majority of small and medium businesses, as well as prosumers with too much money on their hands. Unfortunately, I cannot count myself as one of their number, for although I’d like to think of myself as a “prosumer” with a modicum of tech talent, I am without the second part of the requirement – the “too much money” part.

Nevertheless, the NV is actually cheap for a product of its caliber. Most contemporary storage and network systems designed for Philippine corporations weigh in at the P400K to P500K range. I make this distinction because of the disparity in size of corporations here and abroad; wherein an SMB in the US would rival a “large” corporation here. This product on the other hand costs a manageable P50K to P80K with today’s dollar conversion. Not a casual buy even for a prosumer, but almost a trivial matter for most large corporations.

                                             Equivalent of a small corporation in the Philippines

Netgear identified this particular niche in the storage market due to some adroit conclusions based on observation and market profiling. The average size of the Philippine corporation precludes excessive spending on network systems that will not be fully utilized. The usual requirements for corporations here is for 20 to 200 employees with networked-computing needs, and this number simply does not require the full-blown products made for large corporations. A Network Attached Storage of 2 terabytes max capacity, but with daisy-chain capability, is usually enough. There was no specific product covering that requirement though. Thus the existence of the ReadyNAS line.

The Netgear’s RAID capabilities enable continuous operation through mirroring backup and hot-swapability. Netgear’s proprietary software indexes files automatically through an OS type installed firmware, and updates itself automatically as well through the network. For corporation use, Netgear’s guiding focus on Protection, Easy access and Scalability of their products meant that an affordable NAS system more fitting to the number of people they have is now available.

                                              My ideal network layout for the home, except maybe with an added slingbox, netword MD, music piped in to all rooms, security system...

I happen to agree with Netgear’s product matching, except for a small matter I need to bring up – the fact that Netgear is supposed to be addressing two main markets: the aforementioned “Philippine corporation” market and the prosumer market. Even with my self-inclusion in the prosumer category it would seem to be prohibitively expensive to use one of these ReadyNAS products for a home network. Unless it’s a multiple user, ultra secure, easily accessible, easy to set up, wide ranging and very flexible network. Which is – let’s face it – what any self-respecting geek will want to build in his / her home.

Ever since putting in that first WiFi router to enable internet access in the most ridiculous of places, I’ve been on the lookout for products to fill in the wireless void. Since I had a rudimentary network going, I wanted to make full use of its potential – such as a networked viewing center like TiVo or SlingTV, a cordless Skype and regular phone combination, networked sound system accessing from a central repository, access of files on the main computer from any place with internet access. All this will require a device such as the ReadyNAS NV+ - where all of the data required for the above activities can reside. The NV is perfect for the job.

                                               Definitely cheaper, but definitely unreliable.

Which leaves me in a conundrum. The product is perfect for my imagined “ideal home-network”, yet the price is way out of reach according to my practicality and sensibility meters. Perhaps I misunderstood and in all actuality Netgear intends to target the Small and Medium Businesses and treat them as prosumers – instead of treating them as separate entities. For the rest of us, we can save the 80k for a regular RAID array in an extra casing, and we can label ourselves as regular old consumers – even with such a nice features list and beautiful design, I can’t justify the amount. I’ll leave it to the corporations out there, which I’m sure will lap up this product for its great functionality and affordability (for them). I’m hoping for a lower-priced model, something that will truly fit the needs of a high-end consumer without causing them to resort to a basic backup box.

Specifications 

General

• IT3107 Network Storage Processor
• 4 Serial ATA channels
• Compatible with SATA and SATA IIHDD
• Hot swappable and lockable trays
• 10/100/1000 Ethernet
• LCD display
• 3 USB 2.0 ports
• 256MB PC2700 DDR-SDREAM SO-DIMM
• Embedded 64MB Flash Memory for OS
• Supports Windows, Mac, Linux/UNIX Clients
• DHCP server and print server
• Setup wizard and easy browser-based interface

RAID

• Harware X-RAID single volume auto expansion
• Multiple volume support for RAID 0, 1, 5

Volumes

• Volume management
• Single volume auto expansion (X-RAID)
• Journaled file system
• User, group, and share-level quotas

Network File Services

• CIFS/SMB for Windows®
• AFP 3.1 for Mac OS 9/X
• NFS v2 / v3 for Linux and UNIX
• HTTP/S for web browsers
• FTP/S support

Media Streaming

• UPnP AV
• SlimServer
• Network DVD player compatible
• Windows MCE compatible

Network Security

• Selectable Share, User Domain/ADS modes
• Windows™ ACL
• Encrypted network logins
• Secure Socket Layer (SSL)

Network Options

• DHCP or static IP
• WINS, NTP

System Management

• Performance options
• Device status
• Email alerts and event logs
• SNMP

Backup

• Integrated Backup Manager
• Programmable backup button
• Backup to/from CIFS/NFS/FTP/HTTP & RSYNC
• Backup to/from USB disks
• Bundled backup software:
  EMC® Retrospect® Professional for Windows (5 users license)
  EMC® Retrospect® Desktop for Macintosh (5 users license)

USB Device Supported

• USB HDD and flash drives
• Printers
• UPS monitoring and auto shutdown
• Wireless network adapters

Web Browsers Supported

• Internet Explorer 6.0+
• Netscape Navigator 7.0+
• Opera 7.0+; Safari 1.22+
• Mozilla Firefox 1.03+