Network Storage Link Turns Affordable USB Drives Into NAS

International Journal of Micrographics & Optical Technology, 2004

The Linksys division of Cisco Systems Inc. has released the Linksys Network Storage Link (NSLU2), which enables users to affordably add gigabytes of storage space to home or office networks.

The Linksys Network Storage Link is claimed to be a "fast, simple, flexible and economical way to add storage to your network". The Storage Link has two USB ports for connecting USB 1.1 or 2.0 external hard drives. One USB port can also be used for connecting today's popular USB memory sticks. When the Storage Link is attached to a router or switch through the built-in 10/100 Ethernet RJ-45 port, everyone on the network can share the drives. For example, a Maxtor OneTouch USB 2.0 external hard drive connected to the Storage Link provides shared network attached storage at prices from £109,90 (80 GB) to £199,90 (250 GB). Users may also set up the Storage Link so that the USB drives can be accessible from the Internet - files can be easily downloaded via a web browser. Files can be public, or password-protected for authorised users.

"Small offices and home users are always looking for ways to add more gigabytes of storage capacity to their networks," said Robert Auci, director of Sales in EMEA for Linksys, "With the Storage Link, not only can users add additional storage quickly and affordably, but now everyone on the network can have access to the external hard drive. For the first time laptop users can easily expand the storage capacity of their mobile PC by accessing the external hard drive connected to the Storage Link. Families or office networks can share documents, content, photos and more."

The NSLU2 features built-in disk utilities accessible through a web browser. Users can format new disk drives and scan drives for errors. The built-in backup programme allows users to schedule full, incremental, or synchronised backups of the network drives to the Network Storage Link, or vice versa. Email messages can be sent when a hard drive gets nearly full, completely full, or has an error.

Pricing and Availability

The Network Storage Link (NSLU2) is immediately available through Linksys' distribution and partner network at a Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price of £94.99 inc. VAT. A listing of all Linksys channel partners for where to buy can be found at: www.linksys.com/uk/wheretobuy.

Contact Linksys. Web: www. linksy s .com/uk

First JPEG2000 Color Scan Document Compression Software in the US

In September, LuraTech launched what it claimed was "the first open-standard image compression software that can compress a scanned color document down to one or two percent of its original size, keeping near-perfect image quality while vastly reducing storage and bandwidth costs".

The software, LuraDocument.jpm Version 2.0, is the first image compression software based on the JPEG2000/Part6 ISO open standard to be available on the US market.

"LuraDocument.jpm is able to compress a color document so effectively that it requires barely more storage space than the same document in black and white," says Carsten Heiermann, president of LuraTech. Numerous studies have proven that color can both raise a document's readership and also increase readers' attention spans and recollection by over 80%. However, as the Web, digital photography and color printing accelerate the business trend towards color, storage requirements are increasing dramatically.

LuraDocument.jpm segments scanned color documents into separate layers for text and images. The software then uses wavelet-based JPEG2000 image compression to shrink the images to a fraction of their original size, while the text portion of a document is compressed 'losslessly', remaining totally sharp for reading, reprinting and searching using optical character recognition. This can shrink a 12 megabyte scanned color page to just 65 kilobytes or so in size, eliminating the trade-off between color image quality and storage cost.

"The ability to reduce bandwidth and storage costs for color documents to almost the same level as black and white is key to the expanded adoption of color." says Robert Buckley, a research fellow in the Xerox Innovation Group. Buckley chaired the committee that developed the JPEG2000/Part 6 standard. "We clearly see the demand to reduce the cost of color scanning and to increase the opportunities for color documents on the Web."

Open Standard versus Proprietary Platforms

LuraDocument.jpm is the first solution for compressing color documents to be based on an international open standard, JPEG2000/Part6, where other products were - and remain - based on closed, proprietary standards. Customers choosing the JPEG2000/Part6 ISO standard do not run the risk of sudden price increases from a single proprietary vendor, nor of tech support disappearing if that vendor should fail. LuraTech has also launched a PDF Add-On to ensure the compatibility of LuraDocument.jpm with existing compression investments.

Jim Rile, president of James Rile Associates, said "As a digital document application publisher and PDF expert, I am pleased to see that LuraTech is now launching an open-standard image compressor that is just as good as proprietary alternatives. I tested LuraDocument.jpm as well as the PDF Add-On for my JRAPublish product, and, based on test results, LuraDocument.jpm was an obvious choice. The ability to output highly-compressed PDFs from color and grayscale scans was a compelling feature, and licensing was affordable and realistic. LuraTech's commitment to on-going software development and improvement, combined with highly-responsive technical support, was also a key factor."