Hi,

I'd like some opinions/advice on a storage solution. I work in a research lab. We have 13 members. We all generate computer data but most of it in small amounts. But the potential is there for massive data files. I do a lot of microscopy that can generate gigabytes of data per day. I'll be doing a lot of genome sequencing too that could also generate lots of large data files. We need to have a central place to store stuff instead of on a dozen flash drives and laptops. We have lots of PCs (XP, Vista, and even an old Win95 machine running a heavily used piece of equipment, BTW this macine runs like a champ, never a problem), lots of Macs, and so far, one Linux box running the software for our Deltavision microscope that will need to connect to offload files from. I want it to be easy to manage and not be something to require lots of technical IT knowledge so that when I leave the lab someone else knows how to manage it (I can handle a lot more technobabble than the others). I'd like to have at least 1 or 2 TB of storage space, mirrored (for at least nominal data backup, I can borrow a tape backup system and backup every week or so). It would also be nice to have a built in web server capability to host a lab website and perhaps research protocols and such that we develop.

I've been looking at the QNAP TS-439 and TS-509 with the 1.6 GHz processor and the Synology solutions with 800 MHz CPUs. I have a DNS-323 at home but I know something like that would be too slow for my lab environment.

My question is, in an environment such as I described would a solution from QNAP or Synology (with the CPU speeds listed) be enough performance for my lab, not enough, or is it overkill? The QNAP has iSCSI and I've read good things about it for an SMB environment (kinda like mine I guess). Or should I consider an entry server from HP or Dell?

I'd like to stay under $1100 total too.

Thanks!