CTERA Launches New High-Capacity Hybrid Cloud Gateway

For better or worse, storage needs are expanding exponentially, and if you don’t want it on premise, there’s pretty much one other place to get it, and that’s the cloud. But what if you want a little of both? That’s why CTERA is launching its new cloud storage gateway, specifically designed to blend on-premise and cloud storag, for the SMB market and enterprise branch offices.

CTERA’s C800 is a rack-mountable eight-bay appliance that is designed to be an “on-ramp” for SMBs needing cloud storage. In reality, it’s a hybrid appliance. The C800 can connect to a cloud backup server of your choice,  but flick the right switches, and it’ll also be a NAS. The C800 has also been built with the channel in mind, and partners can choose to provide their own branded cloud services on the platform or connect the C800 to an existing data center.

CTERA believes the C800 is a bit of a cloud-Swiss Army knife because of its hybrid architecture and ability to play nice with existing local and cloud storage. According to the tech specs, the C800 allows for up to 24TB of storage inside a 2U unit, and includes eight hot-swappable SATA bays. Dual-Gigabit Ethernet comes standard along with 256-bit encryption. For the control-savvy IT admin, bandwidth throttling is also capable along with de-duplication, and a slew of other NAS protocols are also supported for secure file-sharing. Integrated backup agent capabilities are also built-into the C800.

With the C800 as the natural evolution of CTERA’s C200 and C400 platforms, CTERA believes the C800 is a perfect fit for the channel, and for vertical markets such as the medical field. SMB customers will be happy to know that the price tag is a pretty decent fit, since it starts at $2,999. At this price, the C800 could even be an ideal platform for VARs and MSPs looking to inexpensively wrap and deploy their own services from inside their own data center.

CTERA has made a name for itself this year, partnering with Scality and COMPUTERLINKS UK for cloud storage solutions. We’ll keep close watch on how CTERA expands and whether the C800 catches on.

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