MS Windows Home Server

Asus have just announced the TS Mini, a Home Server which is powered by the Intel Atom N280 (1.66GHz) processor and features 2GB DDR2 memory, Gigabit Ethernet, storage space for 2 internal SATA hard drives, with 6 USB ports and 2 eSATA ports for future expansion.

Remarkably the Asus TS Mini consumes only 24.5W when idle and just 27.9W during normal use, an area which is defiantly awesome.

Added on top of the Windows Home Server software, Asus have added their own pieces of software:

WebStorage Service
The Asus TS Mini also offers users a year of free 500GB Web storage space allowing you to boost your storage or synchronize backups online for improved data security. Additionally, you can save large peer-to-peer files on the Web, and share data with user accounts worldwide.

Media Streaming
The TS mini makes it easy for you to stream photos, music, video and other digital content to various devices including TVs, computers, Media PCs, and gaming consoles—for all-around content access as well as allowing you to stream music and multimedia content through the online connection.

Xtor Manager
With the ASUS Xtor Manager, you can directly backup, synchronize and manage your files and folders between external USB and eSATA storage devices and TS mini.

ASWM Management
ASWM, real-time system health monitoring tool, helps users to monitor online and system status of TS mini, including fans, temperature, disks, drives, network, memory and CPU. Once errors occur, the system will instantly send error report to pre-configured email.

The ASUS TS mini is available for pre-order in the US in 500G and 2TB models at $349 and $529, respectively from both Amazon (1) (2) and Newegg (1) (2).

More details are available from here.

For those of you who fancy a read, here is the press release for the Asus TS Mini Home Server:

ASUS Unveils TS Mini Server for Today’s Small Office/Home Office

– Compact, energy efficient and pre-installed with Windows® Home Server, the TS Mini serves the need to access and share content on-demand –

Fremont, California (November 18, 2009) – ASUS, a worldwide leader in personal computers, today introduces the TS mini small office/home office (SOHO) server. The TS mini targets modern home and small office users that frequently exchange data from multiple computers and require access from various locations. The TS mini secures documents, multimedia, and other digital content into a sleek repository. It further safeguards data on multiple computers across the home or office with automatic backups and cloud storage. TS mini allows centralized file access with local networks, attached storage devices and remotely over the internet. Equipped with an Intel® Atom™ processor, the TS mini delivers quiet, energy efficient, always-on access. Operating on the Microsoft® Windows™ Home Server Platform, it simplifies management of digital content. The TS Mini is available now for pre-order at Amazon.com and NewEgg.com starting at $349.99 USD.

“Consumer demand for rich content that can be accessed anytime, anywhere, on any device is fueling innovation in networking and storage of media and data in the home,” said Seth Bobroff, general manager, Data Center Group – Storage, Intel Corporation. “The Intel® Atom™ processor in the TS mini enables ASUS to deliver the ability to stream media, share files and protect data while remotely accessing it, all in a sleek and energy-efficient 2-bay design.”  

“We are pleased to welcome ASUS, one of the industry’s leading PC manufacturers, to the Windows Home Server family,” said Leslie McGuire, Microsoft Director of Windows Server Marketing. “Customers tell us they want an easy and inexpensive way to store, manage and protect their digital content. ASUS helps them achieve all of that with their TS Mini Server, which includes a robust option for adding data capacity through external Web storage.” 

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The latest mini-itx main board from Intel is the D510M0 which is equipped with the Intel Atom Dual Core D510 processor (2x 1.66GHz and 2x 512K cache) and the Intel NM10 Express Chipset, providing more than enough power for a Windows Home Server home build.

As well as the 2x hyper threaded 1.66GHz CPUs (4x CPUs in Task manger) the north bridge controller is on the SAME silicon as the CPUs, improving overall performance.

An early tester of the D510M0 board is Tranquil PC who had this to say:

(We) will be using this new board in numerous new PCs and Servers, including the new MiDASS series of Home Servers.  There is talk, that the board will also be made available on it’s own too.

Due to be shipped in early January 2010 by Tranquil PC the TDP is only 13W (that’s the CPU and the North Bridge) and would suggest that, with suitable air flow, the D510 can be passively cooled by the fitting of a heat sink, making a quiet Home Server solution.

More details are available from here.

Whilst exploring the HP support site I stumbled across details of a HP LX197 MediaSmart Server, which whilst looking like a upgrade model to the LX195 this new model has not been announced yet, but looks like it isn’t far away

Website WeGotServed also has details at his site which also links to an article in an Australian blog where a HP sales rep mentioned that the unit would be officially announced mid to late October. In the meantime further product information is available from the HP support site alongside troubleshooting and usage information.

More details from HP.

Paul Thurrott’s SuperSite for Windows has a review of the new EX49x MediaSmart Server from HP which takes a look at the hardware and software improvements in HPs third generation of Home Server.

Defiantly worth a look is a chart looking at the hardware differences between this and previous MediaSmart models.

Read the full review here.