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Re: Open Question to Netgear - What are Your Intentions?

ahpsi1
Tutor

Open Question to Netgear - What are Your Intentions?

I have been a forum member and ReadyNAS owner since December of 2009. Certainly not as long a many of the add-on developers such as super-poussin and whocares, not as long as some of the more experienced users like claykin, mdgm, dbott76, TeknoJnky, sphardy, Papabear, fbmachines and stephenb and obviously not as long as the jedi - Yodah, Chirpa, Chewbacca, Jedi Knight, Han Solo and Oom-9. There are many others in each group I have unintentionally omitted but I write now because I am concerned for the future of the ReadyNAS line.

I don't post much anymore but have never stopped reading (daily) the ReadyNAS forum. I've committed my own money, that of the company I work for and that of my friends and collegeues that listened to the purchase of a ReadyNAS. From the Duo to the Pro - I use daily and depend on quite a few to do their job and I will say they have done that and done it well. What concerns me is that direction the forum has taken since the departure of Yodah and Chirpa. While both continue to provide support (and while other Jedi also do their best) it would seem judging from the comments of users and Jedi alike there has been a fundamental shift in Netgear's priorities. So fundamental I now question whether Netgear is the right choice moving forward. To wit:

As many have stated the forum was or is the reason to choose Netgear over the competition. I submit given Netgear's stance (the board itself is regularly unavailable) the forum can no longer be valued as it was in the past.

Existing issues are no longer being addressed, discussed or even acknowledged by Netgear staff as readily as in the past. I would submit this lessens the value of Netgear support further decreasing the value of the ReadyNAS line.

Existing web features such as the web simulator have been removed by Netgear without official communication and without remediation. This affects future purchases, reducing the user base therefore reducing the need to spend money on existing users.

Problems we have lived with - (iTunes server / forked daapd, ReadyDLNA, USB3 operation, Photos I and II, ARM add-ons (or the lack thereof), loss of Bittorrent, RAIDiator v5 for x86, lack of a directory / LDAP server, requiring workaround, registry hack or command-line fixes for common issues) - the list goes on - have not been properly addressed. I don't care about most and the ones I do don't bother me that much but there is an expectation when you purchase a product that it live up to the marketing and your own expectations and I would submit that may no longer be the case.

ReadyDATA hardware and software (what some existing programmers might be spending their time on) might be great - I will never know. For one, it is somewhat more expensive than a ReadyNAS but more importantly why would I give my money to a company that has begun to abandon an entire group of product enthusiasts that have have helped make the ReadyNAS line what it is today?

You can search the board to find support for any point I referenced but I think for most just a reminder is enough. Note I am in no way unhappy with the performance of any of the many ReadyNAS units I own and work with on a daily basis. I strongly feel like I am witnessing a protracted death of a product I feel has value and it is for this reason I'm asking Netgear -

What are your intentions?
Message 1 of 67
BMach
Aspirant

Re: Open Question to Netgear - What are Your Intentions?

+1

Six months ago, I thought the forum was the norm and not a selling point.

Now I realise how wrong I was. There is still great help being provided behind the scenes but problems, fixes and the future all need to be acknowledged and discussed. The urn availability of the site has little effect on the performance of the hardware but has become symbolic of the problems with the product line.
Message 2 of 67
gibxxi
Guide

Re: Open Question to Netgear - What are Your Intentions?

Excellent post ahpsi, sentiments I agree with entirely. Whether NETGEAR will ever see your post, let alone act upon it, is debatable. But fair play for writing it.

🙂
Message 3 of 67
bmbpdk
Aspirant

Re: Open Question to Netgear - What are Your Intentions?

agree with you all, but lucky enough, we, the user, who pay their salary and dev. costs (<-- can i say more clearly Netgear) can move away from netgear, and go some other brand, like zyxel or d-link
Message 4 of 67
AMRivlin
Apprentice

Re: Open Question to Netgear - What are Your Intentions?

I too over the last 6 months have lost faith. I have heard rumblings of new software or future hardware releases, but nothing official or concrete. It would appear Netgear saw little ROI on supporting enthusiasts and new converts and has slowly turned into an iomega.

My 6Pro works fine and is very stable, but I long for new features, new OS, and the rich support and discussions we had here when I purchased my NAS Feb 2012. My office just bought a NAS, and I couldn't recommend NG, we went with QNAP.

If NG is reading please right the ship. I posted about this a ways back, but a bit of outreach with notes on future features and hints at new hardware would go a long way to improving morale. Just look at product leak buzz on an engadget/verge enthusiast site, people eat that stuff up. And saying it will gut sales or let competitors steal your ideas...

1. Sales of 3 year old tech are probably abysmal
2. Don't share super cool features, but toss us some bones
Message 5 of 67
Gurutek
Aspirant

Re: Open Question to Netgear - What are Your Intentions?

Sadly; I must admit that it feels as though the ReadyNAS product offering is slowly disintegrating. I have an NV+ / ReadyNAS NVX / ReadyNAS Pro. But when looking to purchase some new NAS hardware for work and home, I've unfortunately been disapointed over the development of the ReadyNAS product, when comparing it to the competition. Of particular concern is the lack of response from ReadyNAS themselves on this very valid comment.......
Message 6 of 67
a_carneiro
Tutor

Re: Open Question to Netgear - What are Your Intentions?

I would echo this sentiment. Since buying two NV+s about 5 years ago I have been a staunch enthusiast. One Pro6 and one Ultra6 joined the family a few months ago, but I must admit that my further needs may not be served by a ReadyNAS.
Odd as it may sound, Gigabit ethernet (even with Link Aggregation) is not quite enough for me any more.
Products like the Drobo5D are able to capitalise on the massive bandwidth availabe on USB3 and Thunderbolt interfaces.
In short: I get the impression the ReadyNAS line is getting technically dated.
Now, I appreciate the Drobo is not EXACTLY the same as a ReadyNAS... but my point still stands.
I desperately want to see something new and exciting on this line. Really. 🙂
Message 7 of 67
mdgm-ntgr
NETGEAR Employee Retired

Re: Open Question to Netgear - What are Your Intentions?

a.carneiro the ReadyNAS is a Network Attached Storage device. It's not a DAS. Having said that I could see the usefulness of USB3 and Thunderbolt for connecting external devices to backup a NAS or in the case of Thunderbolt connecting say an expansion chassis.

The 2-bay x86 devices have a USB3 port on the front and the Duo/NV+ v2 have two USB3 ports on the rear. The current 4-bay and 6-bay devices were developed before the current 2-bay devices. I think I said this months (maybe even a year or two) ago, but I'll say it again: I'd be very surprised if any future desktop ReadyNAS models don't have at least one USB3 port.

For rackmount models I'd perhaps see less value in USB3 as they're not as likely to be backed up to a USB device. They'd be better off adding stuff like a 10GbE option to those (in addition to the 4200 and the ReadyDATA 5200 which have 10GbE as an option/by default currently).
Message 8 of 67
WSJ
Aspirant
Aspirant

Re: Open Question to Netgear - What are Your Intentions?

Well, let's see whether anyone at NetGear has guts enough to reply (I doubt so).
Message 9 of 67
Inextirpable
Aspirant

Re: Open Question to Netgear - What are Your Intentions?

Too sad. I was holding money to upgrade my old readynas to the next iteration from the ultra + line. It's been 2 plus years since that line has been out. I cant wait anymore. I think I'm going to go with a Mac mini (use it as a server) and attach a pegasus R6 or Synology to it.
Message 10 of 67
oshae
Tutor

Re: Open Question to Netgear - What are Your Intentions?

I only jumped into the NAS/ReadyNAS world as recently as this year. I couldn't decide between the choice of vendors but eventually Netgear seemed like the way to go. I also got an awesome deal on a diskless Pro 6.

However, over this past year of tinkering with it, following its development and spending time in the forums, the words of ahpsi ring very true. I too wonder what direction this product is going in and worry it could be killed off.

I'm kind of kicking myself in the pants for not looking more into QNAP or Synology. I work with a couple guys who have Synologys at home and don't stop talking about them. Both vendors I believe already overcame volume size limitations and when I search for mobile apps (I'm an Android user) for these two vendors, there are MULTIPLE types of apps from each. When I search for ReadyNAS on the Google Play store there is just an independently created piece of garbage. ReadyNAS Remote does exist but there is seemingly no development on it as it's not compatible with my tablet.

Anyway, I guess my point is the image I get from QNAP and Synology is that they have a very active development team that creates new features, OS upgrades, mobile apps and is more proactive about testing hardware to add to their HCL. In my short time working with the ReadyNAS it really does feel like it's dying, which is so sad. The amount of storage people are going to need in the future is only going to increase and I believe there will always be a market for and need for NAS products. I can't understand why Netgear wouldn't step up their game.
Message 11 of 67
Gurutek
Aspirant

Re: Open Question to Netgear - What are Your Intentions?

Appears that there's not much leadership here anymore......

Funny thing is, I still see the Ex-ReadyNAS employees answering questions on the Forums. Now that's what I call dedication to a brand!
Message 12 of 67
Marto731
Aspirant

Open Question to Netgear - Intentions?

To the previous speakers,
I am a Junior Tech support contractor. To comment mainly on @ahpsi's initial post.

(a) Employees like Yohdah and Chirpa, who may have left the company for their own reasons, simply
are not replaceable.
(b) Netgear management do want increased involvement of staff on the Forums. But it is about getting
time and resources.
(c) The company has been focused on new Products this year such as the ARM Duo & v2, ReadyData, ReadyDrop etc.

(d) Finally, as a Junior contractor, there are a large proportion of posts here, that are specific to particular
individual users, with variations in Disk manufacturers, add-on's,etc, that Tech support would not be able to
replicate in a lab situation. So, I do give credit to the Voluntary Community activists on the forum who contribute their time, and expertees.

Thank you,
Marto,
L2 Tech Support
Message 13 of 67
WSJ
Aspirant
Aspirant

Re: Open Question to Netgear - What are Your Intentions?

Thanks, Marto.
At least someone from Netgear did respond.
Message 14 of 67
chirpa
Luminary

Re: Open Question to Netgear - What are Your Intentions?

Gurutek wrote:
Funny thing is, I still see the Ex-ReadyNAS employees answering questions on the Forums. Now that's what I call dedication to a brand!
Someones gotta do it. I feel bad for the ignored users, which is why I still come here. It's clear NTGR has given up on the forums here. While it is nice some L2's come and go on here, the 'Jedi' team has vanished. I've been holding out on this thread, waiting for someone with authority there to step up and comment, but clearly that isn't going to happen.
Message 15 of 67
ahpsi1
Tutor

Re: Open Question to Netgear - What are Your Intentions?

Agreed. I had hopes if I were blunt enough in my post perhaps somebody 'in charge' would find the time to respond. The lack of response (except by Marto, thank you by the way) tells me either:

No one in charge reads the forum.

No one in charge cares about what is said on the forum.

No one in charge is permitted to respond on the forum.

I don't need to spell it out for you - each is equally bad. I wonder which one is most correct?
Message 16 of 67
chirpa
Luminary

Re: Open Question to Netgear - What are Your Intentions?

I'm sure a few have read it in passing. I know some of the complaint threads have gone to management there. Obviously it doesn't warrant their response, which is a response in itself.

I would go with #2 of your list, they don't care.
Message 17 of 67
chirpa
Luminary

Re: Open Question to Netgear - What are Your Intentions?

I guess NETGEAR is following Oracle... hit rock bottom, then try and repair what you fscked up.

After silence on Java flaws, Oracle now says it cares
A sudden outreach effort promises to fix Java and communicate better about future security issues
http://podcasts.infoworld.com/t/java-pr ... res-211610

Is their silence coming back to them now?
$NTGR stock dropped 11% today. Downgraded by RBC.
http://www.gainerstoday.com/Gains-Stock-113214-NTGR
Message 18 of 67
WSJ
Aspirant
Aspirant

Re: Open Question to Netgear - What are Your Intentions?

chirpa wrote:
$NTGR stock dropped 11% today. Downgraded by RBC.
http://www.gainerstoday.com/Gains-Stock-113214-NTGR

Well, even analysts will sooner or later recognize if a vendor fails in the discipline of customer relationship.
Message 19 of 67
elrohir
Aspirant

Re: Open Question to Netgear - What are Your Intentions?

USB3 operation, Photos I and II, ARM add-ons (or the lack thereof), loss of Bittorrent, RAIDiator v5 for x86, lack of a directory / LDAP server, requiring workaround, registry hack or command-line fixes for common issues) - the list goes on - have not been properly addressed. I don't care about most and the ones I do don't bother me that much but there is an expectation when you purchase a product that it live up to the marketing and your own expectations and I would submit that may no longer be the case.
Message 20 of 67
ipaul81
Aspirant

Re: Open Question to Netgear - What are Your Intentions?

It feels like Netgear has turned its back or lowered priority to the NAS business unit. Everything has gone quiet and I have not seen much activity since September/Nov 2012. It was quieting down well before that time. Its a shame because the products are good. My ReadyNas Ultra 2 Plus has been great but there is a lack of software available for a product with such potential. Seems like a waste really.
Message 21 of 67
chirpa
Luminary

Re: Open Question to Netgear - What are Your Intentions?

It wouldn't take much effort for one of the managers (Jabba The Hut, cap1, Han Solo) with authority to come back on here and say 'we are still alive, but busy on new products'. That would at least show some signs of life... But they can't even be bothered. Having one of the tech support guys (most outsourced) comment doesn't give the same level of meaning.
Message 22 of 67
ahpsi1
Tutor

Re: Open Question to Netgear - What are Your Intentions?

I saw laserboy's post regarding potential new models -> http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=69574 and they (RN312, RN314, RN516 + EDA500 and RN316) do look interesting.
CPU Intel Atom, Intel Core i3
Memory 2-4 GB
SATA + SSD HDD 2.5" / 3.5"
Thin Provisioning function
Snapshots - unlimited
Management from the cloud
Expansion Shelf

Perhaps they've been busy designing these new products? OK, why not tell us - or at least tell us they can't tell us?

An expansion shelf would be nice, more memory and SSD support, Core i3? Yes please. The only thing stopping me from writing up a cost justification and planning to purchase is the deafening silence from NTGR. 😞
Message 23 of 67
chirpa
Luminary

Re: Open Question to Netgear - What are Your Intentions?

Ya, if this is how they treat existing users, I wonder how users of that new RNx1x will be treated in a years time.
Message 24 of 67
AMRivlin
Apprentice

Re: Open Question to Netgear - What are Your Intentions?

What were the pricing on the new units? Any photos of new bezels or cloud management?
Message 25 of 67
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