Cisco Systems recently introduced a new family of desktop network storage devices to provide small-business customers with a fully integrated and highly secure method for storing and sharing critical business data. The new NSS 300 Series of smart storage offerings is designed specifically for businesses with fewer than 100 employees, the company said.
What small businesses need is an affordable, easy-to-use technology for driving productivity and growth, noted Ian Pennell, cochair of the small business council at Cisco.
“To help small businesses effectively manage the explosion of electronic information, we’ve built an innovative new family of storage solutions,” Pennell said. “The addition of these new devices further emphasizes Cisco’s commitment to providing small businesses with affordable, easy-to-use technology they require to optimize productivity and drive growth.”
Security, Speed and Flexibility
Approximately 40 percent of the firms surveyed by IDC before the end of last year said they expected their IT storage budgets to increase in 2010 in the key areas of virtualization, business continuity, and disaster recovery. This signals that consolidation and ongoing business operations have become key business imperatives, IDC said.
Small businesses, in particular, have a lot of business-critical data and are now recognizing the importance of storage, noted Cisco Vice President David Tucker. “They’re looking for a strategy to better organize and manage their storage needs,” Tucker said.
Cisco has seen small-business demand for storage solutions accelerate in the last two years, Tucker observed. “They want a storage solution that provides security, encryption, speed and flexibility,” Tucker said.
More than 50 percent of small businesses expect their storage needs to increase in the next 12 months, noted IDC Vice President Ray Boggs. “And about a third of those expecting growth identify expanding storage capacity or improving storage management as one their top IT priorities,” Boggs said.
Priced between $913 and $5,625, Cisco’s…