QNAP v3 User Interface

QNAP has recently launched the v3 Graphical User Interface on their Turbo NAS servers. As a long-time NAS product tester, my experiences with the many GUIs used on the server products has been quite extensive. For the past three years, which is essentially the time period NAS products have gained in popularity to the point where network administrators consider them mainstream appliances, the one company that has always set the standard for software and menu navigation has been QNAP. So should it surprise me that a new version of their already-popular software interface was even better than the last?

QNAP is equally impressed, and has launched a demo site especially for the v3 GUI firmware, and as of this writing a new v3.2 beta firmware is available with expanded functionality. If you're considering a QNAP NAS product, I highly recommend that you browse over the demo site to get a better understanding of how nice the new GUI is.

The very first thing I noticed different once I updated the firmware was a new Administration logon screen. For a moment, I thought that I had logged into my media server, which has a similar iPhone-ish feel to it. The QNAP v3 User Interface borrows the nice rounded GUI design made popular by the Apple smart phone, and adds a myriad of sub-menus behind it.

Finding what you need has never been so easy! Whenever I test NAS products, the very first thing I must do (after updating the firmware) is to configure network settings and build the drive array. Usually this takes a few minutes of searching through the menu, even the older QNAP v2 GUI took some time, but the latest navigation interface is unbelievably easy to work with.

While many of the new aspects behind QNAP's v3 Graphical User Interface are cosmetic, it's nice to have the ability to customize the interface and build a color theme that best suites your mood. Normally I wouldn't pay this much mind, but when you work in the GUI so much that it becomes a regular stop on your Web Favorites list, it's nice to have a things tuned to your own needs. QNAP offers a live video demonstration of the v3 firmware GUI for those wanting more hands-on.

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