Thecus
N3200 Three-Disk NAS Appliance: $349
www.thecus.com

Network storage doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive. Thecus’ N3200 appliance gives SOHO customers basic functionality while still addressing important issues like performance, data integrity, and security.

The hardware itself is compact yet sturdy. It looks a lot like a small form factor PC, only the front fascia instead sports ventilation for three 3.5” SATA hard drives. The back features one Gigabit LAN port and one Gigabit WAN connection. USB 2.0 ports in the front and back accommodate a wireless dongle and webcam, while an eSATA connector lets your customer add even more storage to the unit.

Inside, you’ll find just enough room to slide hard drives into Thecus’s own SATA midplane using simple rails and thumb screws. Though there’s an expansion slot on the back of the N3200, a quick peek inside the chassis reveals that this is merely a placeholder for higher-end models sharing the N3200’s chassis design.

Equipped with a fairly simple hardware configuration, software is what makes the N3200 special. Thecus arms the device with RAID 0, 1, 5, and JBOD support, giving it some resilience against a drive failure. An integrated media server facilitates easy connection to DLNA-compliant CE devices, and iTunes server support allows music streaming from the N3200 to other network clients. The Web-based management interface also has an access control list for configuring permissions. And while Thecus includes its own backup software, you’d likely be better off selling an app like EMC’s Retrospect to anyone looking to centralize a home office’s data onto the N3200.

Priced in the $300s, there’s plenty of room for resellers to either add high-capacity 1TB disks and go for a sub-$1,000 repository or build a more affordable box using smaller drives.

Corsair
TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF 4GB DDR2 Memory Kit: $179
www.corsair.com

One of the best ways to deliver better system performance, especially to customers running Windows Vista, is adding RAM. Yes, we know that Vista includes a handful of interesting technologies designed to speed up the operating system through the use of flash memory, but those were far more interesting when the prices on DDR2 and DDR3 memory were much higher than they are now.

Need proof? Corsair’s TWIN2X4096-8500 C5DF memory kit—a 4GB package consisting of two 2GB DDR2-1066 modules—is available for well under $200. This isn’t generic budget memory, either. Corsair’s Dominator kit is encased in an aluminum heatsink with Dual-Path Heat Xchange technology to maximize airflow across the cooling surface. Corsair also includes a special fan kit with the memory, which can help lower temperatures for customers pushing the modules beyond their rated specs.

Not that the kit’s default specifications need much improvement. At 1066 MHz, you’re looking at the highest frequency officially supported by the Phenom’s integrated memory controller and Intel’s P45 chipset. It’s a good, high-end speed bin. Better still, Corsair arms the modules with Enhanced Performance Profiles, making it possible to hit aggressive 5-5-5 timings at 2.1V.

Of course, because the TWIN2X4096 kit includes 4GB of memory, it won’t all be seen by a 32-bit operating system. Now is a great time to start contemplating the move to a 64-bit version of XP or Vista, which is able to take advantage of 4GB, in addition to the 64-bit extensions built into AMD’s and Intel’s processors.

Maxtor
BlackArmor 320GB Portable Hard Drive: $169
www.maxtor.com

On a seemingly regular basis, we hear about this business losing a laptop with sensitive customer data or that government misplacing a flash drive with important intelligence on it. Those stories go public specifically because the data wasn’t encrypted and thus compromised. Of course, nobody ever thinks something like that will happen to them. But that doesn’t change the fact that you should be selling your SMB customers on the virtues of encrypted storage—especially when it comes to a portable drive that they’re taking on the road.

Maxtor’s 320GB BlackArmor drive sports hardware-based, full disk encryption that doesn’t need to be toggled on or off. The protection is always enabled, and nobody can access the drive without a password. When we asked Maxtor representatives about the status of data if the password were to be forgotten, they almost-humorously replied that the information would be lost. According to Maxtor, not even a professional data recovery service can pull encrypted data from the BlackArmor. And if you delete the encryption key, the entire drive can be securely disposed of.

Although it’s incredibly secure, Maxtor’s BlackArmor is still easy to use. The drive pulls enough power over the USB interface to run on its own, without an external adapter. A five-year warranty on the hardware makes support a piece of cake, and the sub-$200 price tag pulls industrial-strength data protection within easy reach of SMBs.