Israel-based storage software startup Elastifile presents a first product-- the Elastifile Cloud File System (ECFS), a software-only, flash-native storage system scaling across on-premises and the cloud.

The ECFS is a distributed file system promising linear performance scaling, consistent and low latency and granular check-in/check-out object tiering for data migration and backup. It scales from a minimum 3 notes to thousands (although the company has only deployed 100 so far), with the system using distributed metadata to prevent bottlenecks.

Each participating server, be it on-site, across sites and public cloud, gets a lightweight virtual controller to aggregate server flash storage resources. In turn these are presented to applications as a POSIX-compliant global namespace accessible from every node and complete with end-to-end protection.

Intel announces the first Optane-branded product featuring 3D XPoint technology-- the  Optane SSD DC P4800X, a drive customers can use as either storage or memory.

Aimed for datacentre use, the P4800X is ideal for high read/write applications demanding low latency, It has sequential transfer speeds of 2400MB/s read and 2000MB/s write, and can sustain high IOPS of 550000 read and 500000 write even at low queue depths. The result allows customers to do more work with the same servers, improving TCO or expanding capabilities, Intel claims.

Drobo announces the 5N2-- a 5-bay NAS with featuring functionality from the company's enterprise-level products while being aimed at connected home users, media professionals and SMBs.

The 5N2 holds up to 5 HDDs or SSDs, with any mixture of drives. It also carries one mSATA SSD in the Drobo Accelerator Bay. BeyondRAID technology allows features such as drive hot-swapping, single or dual disk redundancies, instant expansion and secure remote access for private cloud configuration.

Connectivity comes from two 1Gb ethernet ports. Included software such as DroboDR allows users to set up a pair of 5N2s for offsite data copies and DroboPix provides mobile picture and video management. An internal battery protects against data loss during power outages.

Qnap systems releases the TS-453Bmini-- a vertical NAS powered by an Intel quad-core 1.5GHz CPU ideal for SMB and small office use.

Aimed at data storage, backup and file sharing applications, the TS-453Bmini features AES-NI hardware encryption and 4K media output and transcoding capabilities. It promises drive read speeds of up to 225MB/s with smooth performance under dual network environments. Pushing performance are 4/8GB of DDR3L dual-channel RAM, while connectivity comes through dual gigabit LAN ports and SATA 6GB/s, as well as x1 HDMI, x4 USB 3.0 and x1 USB 2.0 ports.

Total storage can reach up to 120TB by using an 8-bay UX-800P expansion unit (when using 10TB HDDs). Container Station supports container applications, including QIoT Containers and IoT applications, while Virtualisation Station allows users to run multiple Windows, Linux Unix and Android virtual machines. QmailAgent centralises email accounts for simplified management, and Qcontaz centrally stores and manages contact information.