WD, a Western Digital company and world leader in digital storage solutions has expanded its small- and medium-sized (SMB) storage solution portfolio with the introduction of the new WD Sentinel DS5100 and WD Sentinel DS6100 (S-series) ultra-compact network storage plus servers. The WD Sentinel S-series feature high-performance Intel Xeon processors and are pre-installed with Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials. All WD Sentinel network storage products feature WD enterprise-class hard drives and these 4-bay WD Sentinel S-series desktop appliances offer up to 16 TB of raw storage. Additionally, unlike traditional NAS systems, the WD Sentinel S-series allow small businesses to run line-of-business applications on their network storage platform.

“WD is using enterprise-class components to build a new family of network appliances for small businesses,” says Bill Evans, general manager of WD’s business storage solutions group. “The WD Sentinel S-series network appliances are engineered with Intel Xeon processors, pre-populated with WD Se datacenter 3.5-inch hard drives for rapid deployment, and feature dedicated 2.5-inch boot drives for maximum reliability. No other vendor offers a comparable network storage plus server in an equally small form factor. With a small footprint and quiet fan, an S-series appliance can be deployed anywhere.” 

Adds Anamika Budree, WD Branded Sales – South Africa, “The SMB market in South Africa is a burgeoning one and having a product that combines a powerful Intel processor, Microsoft software, reliability and affordability is meeting this segment’s exact requirements.  SMBs are no longer an under-served market with this innovative product, delivering enterprise functionality at an appropriate price point. An added advantage is that the solution is already engineered, configured and packaged, ensuring little to no setup expertise is required with installation. Furthermore, as these smaller businesses grow, this latest iteration of the Sentinel allows them to scale easily by catering to the addition of the Sentinel DX4000 for additional storage.”

Proven Components from Intel, Microsoft, and WD

Built by WD, powered by an Intel Xeon processor and running Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials, the WD Sentinel S-series is based on proven technologies from industry leaders. Unlike competitors’ proprietary operating systems, the S-series is a fully configured native Windows Server on which customers can deploy thousands of Windows applications.

“Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials gives customers the benefit of built-in, groundbreaking, low-cost storage technologies, and WD’s Sentinel S-series hardware helps small businesses take advantage of these technologies,” says Jamie Hamilton, Director of Marketing, OEM Division at Microsoft Corp. “We are pleased to work with WD to tackle the small business, first-server opportunity. WD’s hardware engineering expertise, previous success with network storage products based on Windows Storage Server, and leadership in offering an R2 version of Windows Server 2012 Essentials puts WD in a good position to serve this industry.”

Reliable Enterprise Grade Components     

The WD Sentinel S-series include WD 3.5-inch datacenter-class hard drives for enhanced data security.  Businesses gain enterprise-class reliability with dual dedicated boot drives (optional on WD Sentinel DS5100), dual gigabit Ethernet ports, and dual external DC-in power adapter ports. This engineered redundancy, along with a bezel lock for physical security, all add to the reliability of this ultra-compact network storage plus server that can be deployed virtually anywhere.

Affordable First Server for Any Small Business

The WD Sentinel S-series is a complete, fully-configured solution with automatic backup and restore software for up to 25 users and 50 computers, all at a very affordable price that starts at approximately R29 640.00 inclusive of V.A.T. as a recommended retail price.  By combining a single solution for both storage and server requirements, the S-series appliances are a great solution for any small business looking for their first server.

“Finally, a network storage vendor has delivered a low-cost, turn-key solution that meets my customers’ requirements—with no assembly required,” said Kevin Royalty, Microsoft MVP and Managing Partner of Total Care Computer Consulting in Centerville, Ohio. “Small business customers want a packaged solution with balanced disk, processor, memory, and operating system that is engineered and tested as a unit. The DS5100 and DS6100 appliances are ideal as a ‘first server’ due to the high-performance Intel Xeon processor, Windows Server, high-capacity enterprise-class disk storage, and tiny footprint.”

Availability

WD Sentinel S-series appliances will be available in South African in Q1 2014. The WD Sentinel DS5100 is pre-populated in capacities of 4 or 8 TB. The WD Sentinel DS6100 is available with capacities of 8, 12, or 16 TB.

For more information, contact Anamika Budree at Western Digital – South Africa on 082 403 8090 or send an email to Anamika.Budree@wdc.com