Many people were surprised when Intel announced that it would enter the crowded NAS market space with the launch of the Intel Entry Storage System or the SS4200-EHW, for short. The  SS4200-EHW will be based on a Celeron 400 series processor with a 945GZ/ICH7-R chipset using DDR memory.

The SS4200-EHW is likely the first NAS box where the consumer really can know something about the hardware that is being used to power the box. The box does offer an eSATA connection for up to four additional hard drives, but is only available in a single internal drive format from 80GB to 1TB configurations. The SS4200-EHW will be targeted at home and SOHO users. The SS4200-EHW will include backup software that will be provided by EMC.

No price or availability information was released.