Buffalo Looks Past NAS With Cloudstor

By Doug Olenick -- TWICE, 3/23/2011

New York - Buffalo Technology is hoping its new Cloudstor storage device will give a boost to the network-attached storage (NAS) space.

The Cloudstor, announced at International CES, is now shipping with the 1TB version listed at $169 and the 2TB model costing $269.

The Cloudstor differs from other NAS products in that it can act as remote storage for mobile products like smartphones, tablet PCs, and the users' laptops and desktops in the home, said Brian Verenkoff.

The Cloudstor uses Pogoplug's software and a website to remotely connect these devices to the storage unit.

"This gives each mobile device effectively 2TB of storage, Verenkoff said.

The user goes to the website to access their drive.

The other major change is user setup. The remote connectivity is handled with the owners email address and a password.

"What has killed NAS is the setup," Verenkoff said, adding it confused consumers when they had to deal with the computer's firewall and IP address.

"By using only the email address and password it is more familiar to the casual user," he said.

Since the Cloudstor is being positioned as a storage product, not backup, it does not come with pre-installed backup software, but it will work with the applications installed in Windows and Macintosh.

Buffalo has supplied Amazon and Buy.com, the two primary retailers, with videos explaining the product to potential customers. The Cloudstor will also sell through MicroCenter stores.