Final thoughts and rating
The market is littered withnetwork-attached storage boxes from a myriad of companies. Most boxes now provide a range of entertainment-focussed applications in addition to a NAS' core file-streaming capability.
Armari does things a bit differently, however. The BrontaStor 4TE, starting at £497.99, is an office-orientated NAS that does without some of the home comforts on boxes from the likes of Thecus, QNAP and Synology.
Loaded with the Open-E operating system, it's comparatively challenging to setup, noisy in use and more power-hungry than the competition. More importantly, some users will come to expect features such as an iTunes media server, the ability to add a network printer or expand storage via USB - all of which are conspicuously absent from the BrontaStor 4TE, perhaps understandably so given the intended environment and usage.
On the other hand, small business users may welcome the no-frills approach and Armari's UK-based support. Furthermore, the BrontaStor 4TE offers good all-round performance, keeps very cool in use and its IPMI functionality is a treat for administrators.
It's horses for courses,
naturally, so the Armari's NAS box's sphere of appeal is different from
most we've previously look at. Whether it's worth it depends entirely
on the kind of customer you are.
The Good
Decent performance
On-board IPMI v2.0 offers easy remote management
Armari guides you through the setup process
The Not So Good
Open-E operating system can be
cumbersome
USB ports aren't fully utilised
Can be expensive when loaded up with high-capacity drives
HEXUS Rating
Armari BrontaStor 4TE
HEXUS Where2Buy
The Armari BrontaStor 4TE NAS server can be ordered direct from the Armari online store.
HEXUS Right2Reply
At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.
