Servers under the stairs

 

Gallery

Posted on 3 Sep 2007 at 11:58

Hardware manufacturers have started to produce home servers pre-installed with Windows Home Server. Fujitsu Siemens Computers has already demonstrated its new multimedia Scaleo Home Server to Computer Shopper at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin. Designed to act as a central resource for your digital music, video and photos, the server can run without a monitor and uses very little electricity.

As we reported last month, home users are notorious for failing to back up their files. One of the main tasks for Windows Home Server is to provide a place to save backups. The Scaleo Home Server comes with two 250GB hard disks set up in a mirrored array so that, should one fail, the other provides access to your files. Two additional internal Sata drives can be added to increase storage, although this would increase the power consumption.

Fujitsu Siemens claims that the server consumes as little as 50W and comes with the Energy Star 4.0 certification. This demonstrates a device's energy efficiency. The company also claims that the server is "near silent in operation".

The official word is that the Scaleo Home Server will be available "towards the end of 2007", which could mean any time from when you read this. It will cost around £499.

HP is also planning a launch of a Windows Home Server. Its MediaSmart Server was the first such device to be announced, early this year. A release date is yet to be officially announced but Amazon.com has listed two models along with prices. If we don't see these AMD-based systems available for between £300 and £380, with 500GB and 1TB of storage respectively, by the end of September we'll be surprised.

Amazon.co.uk's listing are devoid of Windows Home Server products at the time of writing, save for Windows Home Server for Dummies (due on the 31st December) and Windows Home Server User's Guide (due on the 1st October).

Author: Shopper Staff