Storage Systems

Small business and small office and home companies often look for hardware solutions that offer performance without a high price tag, but do they also want machines that can deliver high-quality media and entertainment as well? Supermicro Computer, based in San Jose, Calif., is betting they do.

Recently the company announced the introduction of its 5046A-XB desktop system and its SuperServer 5035L-iB server/storage solution that the company says is truly optimized for SOHO applications, including media, entertainment and gaming. Both of the single-socket systems operate at low noise levels and offer SOHO customers energy-efficient operation.

The 5035L-iB server is based on Supermicro's X7SLM-L single-processor serverboard with a long embedded chipset lifecycle. Supermicro says the platform delivers data security, reliability and performance with RAID support for up to four SATA (3.0 Gb/s) drives for up to 6TB of storage.

The X7SLM-L supports an Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 and a PCI-Express x16 graphics connector, and the motherboard a PCI-Express x4 (in a x8 slot) and two legacy PCI slots, an IDE connector, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, and eight USB 2.0 connectors.

The SuperServer 5035L-iB's newly designed mini-tower chassis also includes design features for easy installation such as a toolless side panel and drive bays, 90-degree pivoting hard disk drive cage, and stamped motherboard support. Besides four 3.5-inch internal drive bays, the system also supports two external 5.25-inch bays, four I/O expansion slots, a toolless rear 9 cm pulse-width modulated fan for cooling and Kensington lock security to safeguard the system. Supermicro says its small footprint makes it perfect for office or home installations.

"These single-socket platforms combine industry-leading quality and energy efficiency to deliver the best possible value to our customers," said Supermicro president and CEO Charles Liang. "Our performance-optimized 5046A-XB system supports dual high-performance graphics cards via two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots to deliver superior performance for the most demanding image processing and visual applications. The SuperServer 5035L-iB is a truly optimized SOHO server and storage solution that brings enterprise-level quality and features to SOHO customers at a highly affordable price point."

The company is also touting the appliances’ energy-saving features, which have become a more powerful selling point thanks to focus in recent years on “green IT.” The 300-watt power supply in this SOHO server/storage solution is 80-Plus Bronze level certified, which means it achieves 85 percent or higher power efficiency. Besides being “earth-friendly” Supermicro says this energy-efficient system saves electricity and reduces end-users' TCO (total cost of ownership) by hundreds of dollars.