Iomega’s 560GB desktop storage solution

Iomega’s Second Generation Desktop REV Loader 560 is shipping and as you can see from the piccie, it really looks the goods. The autoloader provides access to 560GB of native storage (or 1.12TB of compressed capacity) by managing up to eight removable 70GB REV disks in a compact desktop form factor. The new REV Loader 560 is 18cm tall and 13cm wide and offers a total backup and archive solution for small businesses by bundling with each REV Loader 560 a license for CA BrightStor ARCserve Backup for Windows, including support for disaster recovery. It hence offers an automated backup device at a street price of around US$1,600 with 70GB disks at US$69 each or in four-packs for US$250. Importantly, it offers an alternative to tape backup products that rely on very slow linear-access technology, delivering up to 30MB/sec data transfer rates with random access capability, which is up to 10 times faster than many tape alternatives such as DAT-72.

With the addition of the new REV Loader 560, Iomega now offers small businesses and others a complete family of REV products that utilise both REV 35GB disks and the new REV 70GB disks, including stand alone internal and external REV drives available in a selection of computer interfaces (external USB 2.0, FireWire, internal SCSI, ATAPI and SATA interfaces). The REV Loader 560 is backward compatible with REV 35GB disks, meaning the REV Loader 560 can read and write to REV 35GB disks.

REV disks combine the speed and reliability of a hard drive with the removability of tape. Reliability, ruggedness, security (via disk password protection), instant access to data, archivability, zero maintenance and great accompanying software are all advantages of REV over competing tape products. REV disks provide an estimated archival life of 30 years and are highly portable (1cmx8cmx8cm).

Compared to tape-based autoloaders, the REV Loader 560 is half the size, half the weight, and 10 times as fast, and one-third the device cost (on a dollar per gigabyte basis). Password protection and encryption provide additional data security.