New DroboPro NAS has 8 drive bays for 16TB storage

The professional business version of the popular Drobo NAS has arrived.

Data Robotics, Inc. today introduced its DroboPro, "the first business class storage array that manages itself." And judging by the specs, it looks just divine:

• Eight drive bays (3.5-in. SATA I or II) for 16TB of expansion
• Dual disk redundancy (and no need to reformat moving between RAID 5 and 6, for example)
• Triple Interface and iSCSI, supporting Windows and Mac OS X
• FireWire 800/400 and USB 2.0
• "Smart Volumes," which allows the user to pull storage from the common pool and manage 16 x 16TB volumes
• Rack-mount or desktop, with dual fans
• BeyondRAID, including data protection against two simultaneous hard disk failures, instant capacity expansion without downtime, self-management and automatic healing
• Dimensions: 12.17 in. wide by 5.46 in. tall by 14.1 in. deep
• Weight: about 16 lbs.
• Operating temperature: 50-95 degrees Fahrenheit; Operating humidity: 5-80 percent
• 180W internal power supply

The DroboPro has a nice light meter on the outside to tell you how much capacity is used, as well as individual lights that indicate the status of each drive.

It's available now for $1,299.