QNAP Upgrades Capabilities of Its Turbo NAS Servers, Offers Users Free Upgrade

QNAP Systems, Inc. today announced a ground-breaking upgrade to the NAS management software that powers its Turbo NAS lineup of ultra-high performance NAS servers. Version 3.1 of the NAS management software, embedded as firmware, adds significant new features including virtual disk support (up to 8 virtual disks via iSCSI expansion over the network), exclusive QNAP RAID Recovery that can recover a degraded or inactive RAID 1, 5, or 6 due to unintentional removal of drives. Network Discovery Services are enhanced with new Bonjour support offering zero-configuration networking for HTTP, SAMBA, FTP, AFP, and SSH based networks, and full UPnP support. Other new features of the 3.1 firmware include EXT4 support for very large volumes and file sizes, SNMP support, and bitmap support for faster rebuilding of RAID volume after a crash or adding/removing a drive.

The new 3.1 NAS management firmware ushers in a completely new AJAX based User Interface that allows easy NAS configuration via a Web interface allowing less technical-savvy users to easily install the NAS server on the network with simple wizards for adding new users, and setting up services. The new UI supports Microsoft Internet Explorer, Safari (version 3 & 4), FireFox 3, and Google Chrome web browsers. Administrators can choose from 3 different color themes, 15 languages, and even enable a QNAP RSS feed that will keep them up to date with important product news and updates.

"QNAP is protecting our customer's investment in their Turbo NAS servers by continuing to offer exciting new capabilities to hardware already in the field" said Meiji Chang, CEO of QNAP Systems, Inc. "We know our customers appreciate the added value of this approach instead of forcing new hardware purchases; especially in these difficult financial times" Mr. Chang added.

QNAP offers the broadest lineup of NAS server enclosures currently available. QNAP Turbo NAS series NAS servers are available in 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and exclusive 8-bay desktop & rack mount configurations to fit the needs of consumer, small/medium business, workgroups, and entry-level enterprise networks. QNAP NAS servers feature hot-swap removable cartridge drives throughout the entire lineup (cold swap for 1 bay models), and offer unique features including iSCSI support, dual e-SATA ports on Intel Atom-based models, and dual gigabit LAN ports with fail-over and load-balancing capabilities for all Intel-based models. QNAP NAS servers are ideal for simple website hosting, ultra-high performance RAID storage supporting RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, and 5+ hot spare, stand-alone file downloading, network-wide backups, printer sharing, video surveillance, and a whole lot more. QNAP NAS servers are fully compatible with Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and UNIX networks and incorporate green power management technologies.

Availability

The new 3.1 firmware is available immediately for free download here for owners of these QNAP Turbo NAS models:

- TS-119/ TS-219/ TS-219P

- TS-239 Pro / TS-439 Pro / TS-639 Pro / SS-439 Pro / SS-839 Pro / TS-509 Pro / TS-809 Pro / TS-809U (Intel-based Models)

- TS-109 / TS-209/ TS-409 series

The new firmware will also be pre-installed in new QNAP models from July.