Conclusion
...the BrontaStor 822R is shaping up to be one of the best-performing servers available, and it arrives in a convenient NAS-like form factor that will appeal to all sorts of business environments.It's clear that Armari has poured time, money and commitment into the development of the new BrontaStor. The 822R-E4 enterprise server is well-made, packs a substantial amount of performance and has the flexibility to meet a wide range of usage scenarios.
Outside of rack solutions, the BrontaStor 822R is shaping up to be one of the best-performing servers available, and it arrives in a convenient NAS-like form factor that will appeal to all sorts of business environments.
And it's clear that this is merely the tip of the iceberg. We already know that a 12-core, liquid-cooled variant is in the works, and looking ahead, smaller, more-affordable mini-ITX consumer variants are also in the pipeline.
As far as hardware is concerned, the BrontaStor range has got it where it counts. High capacities, the latest Intel Haswell processors, hardware RAID, PCIe expansion, IPMI support and dual redundant power supplies are just some of the attractions. For advanced users and network administrators, the fact that this hardware prowess can be allied to a choice of operating systems will be welcome news, but Armari may need to speed up development of its Linux-based BrontaStor OS if it's to attract mainstream customers who are seeking a solution that's powerful and extremely easy to configure.
Specialised though it may be, the BrontaStor 822R-E4 is a server made by networking afficionados for networking afficionados.
The Good
Small footprint, compared to a rack
Choice of operating system
Relatively low noise
High performance
Flexible customisation optionsThe Bad
Lacks front USB 3.0 port
Software setup could be simplerHEXUS Awards
Armari BrontaStor 822R-E4
HEXUS Where2Buy
TBC. Full details will appear on BrontaStor.com when the 822R officially launches in September.
HEXUS Right2Reply
At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.