Iomega adds four-bay StorCenter Pro ix4-100 to its NAS lineup

The other day I posted about a new four-bay business-oriented NAS device from QNAP. Now, Iomega expands its lineup of network storage with a four-bay solution of its own. But unlike the QNAP, which doesn't come with any storage, the StorCenter Pro ix4-100 is offered with 2TB or 4TB of storage included.

While the ix4-100 has advanced features like RAID Level 5 and 10 capabilities, virtual environment support, and the ability to capture real-time video from up to three surveillance cams, it also comes with consumer-oriented specs like UPnP AV Media Server and Bluetooth support. Four USB ports are available for additional storage from external drives and to attach a printer for sharing over the network, though no eSATA are included. For online backups, Iomega bundles Mozy Home, which gives you 2GB of online storage for free; that's not much, so you can get unlimited storage by upgrading to a $4.95 monthly plan.

Considering the QNAP TS-439 Pro Turbo probably will cost around $700 for just the bare device, the 2TB StorCenter Pro ix4-100 seems like a pretty good deal for $799.95, though the 4TB costs a whopping $500 more for an extra two 1TB drives that you could buy yourself for about $100 apiece.