Drobo is a company that manufactures data storage devices. They are best known for their unique “BeyondRAID” storage technology that combines multiple hard drives into a single logical volume with built-in data protection features.
Is Drobo still in business?
Yes, Drobo is still actively manufacturing and selling data storage products as of 2023. The company was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in San Jose, California. In 2022, Drobo was acquired by StorCentric, another data storage vendor.
Drobo continues to sell a range of direct attached storage (DAS) and network attached storage (NAS) devices for personal and small business use. Their current product lineup includes:
- Drobo 5N2 and 5D3 – 5 bay NAS/DAS devices
- Drobo 8D – 8 bay DAS device
- Drobo B810n – 8 bay NAS for business use
Drobo has an active website at www.drobo.com where they showcase and sell their products. The website was recently refreshed in late 2022. Drobo is active on social media, regularly posting updates on Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
The company exhibits at trade shows such as NAB and CES. Drobo also has an active community forum where customers and employees share tips and information about Drobo products.
In summary, all indications show that Drobo is still operating normally as an independent subsidiary of StorCentric. They continue to manufacture, sell, and support their distinct line of data storage devices for consumers and businesses.
What happened to Drobo in recent years?
Here’s a brief overview of major events and developments at Drobo in the past few years:
- 2015 – Drobo was acquired by Connected Data, another data storage company.
- 2016 – Drobo released new 5 bay NAS devices, the Drobo 5N2 and 5D3, their first new models in several years.
- 2017 – Drobo added support for SSD caching to improve performance.
- 2019 – Connected Data was acquired by StorCentric, a private equity backed data storage firm.
- 2021 – Drobo refreshed the UI and OS for their NAS devices with DroboDOS 3.0.
- 2022 – StorCentric completed integration of Drobo into their portfolio. Drobo 8D DAS launched.
Throughout this time period, Drobo operated as an independent brand and product line under ownership of Connected Data and then StorCentric. The core BeyondRAID storage technology remained a key part of their products. Drobo focused on incremental improvements to their DAS and NAS devices, adding capacity and performance enhancements in response to customer feedback and market demands. The brand maintained its position in the prosumer and small business storage space.
What products does Drobo currently sell?
Here is an overview of the primary storage devices currently sold by Drobo:
Direct Attached Storage (DAS)
- Drobo 5D3 – 5 bay DAS with Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C interfaces. Supports 3.5″ HDDs and 2.5″ SSDs. BeyondRAID, drive bay lights, and LCD status display. Up to 60TB raw capacity.
- Drobo 8D – 8 bay DAS with Thunderbolt 3 support. Uses 3.5″ HDD drives only. BeyondRAID protection and expansion up to 128TB raw capacity.
Network Attached Storage (NAS)
- Drobo 5N2 – 5 bay NAS with Gigabit Ethernet. Supports 3.5″ HDDs and 2.5″ SSDs. Runs the Linux-based DroboDOS. Expandable to 80TB raw capacity.
- Drobo B810n – 8 bay business NAS with SSD caching. Uses 3.5″ HDDs and mSATA SSD. Gigabit Ethernet and two Thunderbolt 2 ports. DroboAccess for simplified management.
Key features across all current Drobo products include BeyondRAID data protection, thin provisioning, drive lights, expandable capacity via additional drives, and support for mixed drive types within the same device.
What is Drobo’s proprietary BeyondRAID technology?
BeyondRAID is Drobo’s proprietary data protection and storage virtualization technology that sets their products apart from standard RAID storage.
Here are some key characteristics of BeyondRAID technology:
- Combines different sized HDDs and SSDs into a single protected storage pool.
- Virtualizes storage so it appears as a single large drive to the host system.
- Data is striped across drives for performance but remains protected against drive failures.
- Allows hot-swapping of drives without downtime.
- Can sustain multiple drive failures without data loss.
- Virtual storage capacity expands seamlessly when new drives are added.
- No traditional RAID management required.
BeyondRAID provides single or dual drive redundancy depending on total drives installed. For example, with 5 total drives, it can withstand 1 or 2 drive failures based on capacity utilization. The proprietary algorithms manage data protection and re-striping automatically in the background.
This simplified “set and forget” management around drive redundancy is a key advantage of Drobo’s technology compared to traditional RAID which requires more hands-on configuration expertise.
Who are Drobo’s target customers?
Drobo aims their products primarily at the following market segments:
- Prosumers and creatives – Photographers, video editors, and music producers who have high storage needs but aren’t full-time IT professionals. They rely heavily on data availability and integrity.
- Small and medium businesses (SMBs) – Companies with limited in-house IT resources to manage complex storage systems but who still need redundant, network-accessible storage.
- Secondary storage – Customers using Drobo devices as expanded backup or archival storage to supplement primary storage arrays.
Drobo’s sweet spot is the prosumer, SMB, and remote office/branch office (ROBO) space. Their focus is providing high capacity redundant storage to customers who don’t have dedicated storage expertise on staff. Ease of use, expandability, data protection, and affordability are key pillars of their value proposition.
Why would a customer choose Drobo over other storage vendors?
Here are some of the potential advantages of Drobo devices compared to other consumer and SMB storage competitors:
- Ease of use – Drobo’s BeyondRAID simplifies storage management vs. traditional RAID which can be complex to configure and maintain.
- Mixed drive support – Ability to combine HDDs and SSDs provides flexibility and cost savings.
- Expandable capacity – Can increase storage by just adding or replacing drives in the same chassis over time.
- Data protection – BeyondRAID provides redundancy against up to 2 simultaneous drive failures depending on configuration.
- Compact and quiet – 5 and 8 bay models take up minimal rack space and run quietly compared to enterprise arrays.
- Affordable price point – Targeted at SMBs and prosumers vs. more expensive enterprise products.
Drobo aims to provide 80% of the functionality of expensive enterprise arrays at a much lower price point. For businesses that don’t have the budget or in-house expertise for SAN or NAS systems, Drobo offers a compelling balance of performance, protection, and ease of use in a compact package.
Does Drobo have any flaws or downsides?
While Drobo devices have their advantages, there are some potential limitations to be aware of:
- Performance can lag behind faster enterprise-class storage, especially with older generation Drobo models.
- Proprietary BeyondRAID limits flexibility compared to standard RAID implementations.
- Management and monitoring isn’t as robust as high-end SAN or NAS solutions.
- Maximum capacities top out at lower levels than full-scale rackmount storage.
- Uses an Linux OS, which some customers find less familiar than Windows/macOS.
- Potential for longer rebuild times due to BeyondRAID compared to hardware RAID.
Drobo devices are not necessarily optimized for transactional workloads or big data applications that require ultra high performance. Larger businesses with dedicated IT staff may be better served by more robust IT-oriented storage infrastructure.
However, for smaller organizations and individuals focused on high capacity redundant storage at an affordable price, Drobo remains highly competitive versus other vendors targeting the SMB/prosumer space.
What is Drobo’s hardware warranty?
Drobo provides the following limited hardware warranty coverage on their products:
- 2 year warranty for diskless enclosure units.
- 1 year warranty for populated enclosure units (with drives included).
- 1 year warranty on individual disk drives purchased from Drobo.
The warranty provides repair or replacement only for defective hardware components. It does not cover accidental damage, or software issues.
Customers can purchase an additional 1, 2, or 3 years of warranty extension called DroboCare for an added fee. This extends the same repair/replacement coverage beyond the standard warranty period.
Overall, Drobo’s warranty is fairly standard for SMB/prosumer storage devices. Critical enterprise storage systems often come with 3-5 year warranties, while consumer products have just 1 year coverage. The optional extended DroboCare plans help close that gap for mission critical deployments.
Does Drobo offer technical support?
Yes, Drobo provides technical support for their products through the following channels:
- Online knowledge base – Contains setup guides, troubleshooting articles, and other documentation.
- Community forums – Monitored by Drobo support agents and other users.
- Email support – For non-urgent technical questions. Responses within 1 business day.
- Phone support – For urgent issues requiring real-time assistance. Available Monday-Friday.
- Remote assistance – Drobo support can access the device remotely to diagnose complex problems.
Drobo provides technical support and firmware updates for at least 5 years after a product’s original shipping date. Their support team has expertise covering the complete Drobo product line.
However, support is primarily limited to the Drobo unit itself. They don’t offer assistance with networking, cabling, host computer OS issues, or third party software. Support for disk drives is handled directly with the drive vendor.
Does Drobo have strong financial performance?
As a private subsidiary company, Drobo does not disclose detailed financial results publicly. However, we can make some educated guesses based on the competitive storage market and their recent acquisition activity:
- The SMB/prosumer storage market has seen declining revenues and margins over the past decade, making it challenging for niche vendors like Drobo.
- Drobo’s acquisition by Connected Data in 2015 and then StorCentric in 2019 indicates they were likely not growing/profitable as an independent company.
- Their acquirers saw strategic value in Drobo’s products and customer base to complement their broader storage portfolios.
- As part of a larger storage organization, Drobo products have likely become more profitable due to shared resources and operational efficiencies.
Overall, while Drobo is unlikely to be a fast growing or highly profitable business on its own, their technology fills an important market niche for their corporate parents. Drobo provides established data protection IP and a loyal customer base of SMBs/prosumers that strategically benefits the wider organization.
Could Drobo get acquired again in the future?
It’s quite possible Drobo could get acquired again at some point in the future, for a few reasons:
- The data storage industry is maturing and consolidation through acquisitions is common as vendors seek growth.
- Larger diversified storage vendors are keen to snap up successful SMB/prosumer brands to round out their product lines.
- Drobo’s BeyondRAID technology and customer base remain strategic assets with ongoing value.
- StorCentric acquired Drobo only recently in 2019, but private equity backed firms sometimes look to flip assets after a few years.
Potential suitors for Drobo could include vendors like Seagate, Western Digital, Netgear, or one of many IT private equity firms looking to build up a storage portfolio.
On the other hand, continued integration into StorCentric may make Drobo less likely to be spun off again soon. The backing of StorCentric gives Drobo financial stability and shared resources to continue competing and innovating.
So in summary – while not guaranteed, it’s certainly feasible Drobo could change hands again to a new owner under the right conditions. The Drobo brand remains strong and keeps them attractive as an acquisition target.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Drobo continues to operate today as an active player in the prosumer and SMB network storage market. While no longer independent, Drobo enjoys stability as part of parent company StorCentric’s broader storage portfolio. The company remains focused on making high capacity, easy to use storage devices accessible for small businesses, creatives, and home office users.
Drobo’s signature BeyondRAID technology provides a unique differentiator for the company versus competing NAS and DAS products. By simplifying redundant storage, Drobo finds an audience among customers who want data protection without technical complexity. While not suited for large enterprise deployments, Drobo devices excel at bringing high availability storage within reach of users who lack big IT budgets and staffing.
Given the continued activity around their brand, website, and new product releases, it appears Drobo is on solid footing for the foreseeable future. The fundamentals of their value proposition around affordable, easy to manage protected storage remain compelling. With the resources of StorCentric supporting their products, Drobo is well positioned to keep innovating and serving their target markets.