Synology DiskStation DS1515, RackStation RS815 Now Available
Even small business have data needs, and some quickly outgrow the capabilities and storage capacities of homegrown and assembled storage solutions. Plus, with the ubiquity and popularity of the cloud, some are opting to include remote access to their setup. These types of scenarios are what Synology is trying to address, especially with its two new NAS boxes now available from its retail partners. The new DiskStation DS1515 and RackStation815 were designed to deliver storage, speed, and protection without requiring SMBs to invest in more expensive server solutions.
Of the two, the DS1515 is the more high-end and, therefore, more performance oriented option. It is driven by a 1.4 GHz quad-core CPU and assisted by 2 GB of RAM. The 5-bay NAS can hold a maximum of 40 TB or 8 TB per hard drive. But if they need more, a setup of up to 15 such drives can be assembled via DX513 expansion, for a theoretical total of 120 TB of storage space.
The DS1515 sports four Gigabit LAN ports, all of which feature failover to ensure continued network connection even if one or more, but not all, of course, ports don't work. They also use Link Aggregation that combines network connections, resulting in read and write speeds exceeding 403 MB/s and 421 MB/s, respectively. And that's even when using RAID 5 redundancy. The hardware encryption engine ensures that you get fast speeds, up to 296 MB/s reading and 150 MB/s writing, even when data is being encrypted or decrypted.
For those on a tighter budget, the RS815 offers an alternative. the 1U rackmount NAS can hold up to 4 hard drives, maximum 8 TB each, for a total of 32 TB on a single rack. And like the DS1515, if the owners need even more, they can expand it up to 8 drives in total using an RX415 expansion unit. This NAS is slightly slower, running on a 1.33 GHz dual-core processor from Marvell, assisted by 1 GB of RAM.
The RS815 also has only 2 Gigabit LANs, though they still have the same failover and Link Aggregation features, ensuring 216 MB/s reading and 121 MB/s writing maximum speeds. Both NAS boxes run Synology's DiskStation Master operating system that handles not just backup and network management, but also cloud access and sharing.
The Synology DiskStation DS1515 and RackStation815 are both now available from retailers that carry the company's NAS products. Retail prices have not been disclosed.