Nitrokey's NextBox Packs a Raspberry Pi 4, Nextcloud, Ubuntu Core, and Storage Into a Smart Housing
Custom enclosure brings the cloud closer to you, courtesy of the open source Nextcloud project and a custom daughterboard.
Berlin-based Nitrokey has launched a crowdfunding campaign for NextBox, a private cloud system powered by a Raspberry Pi 4 single-board computer, the Ubuntu Core Linux distribution, and Nextcloud.
"Convenient, no administration effort, space for photos, videos and backups - the cloud is nowadays indispensable," Nitrokey's Jan Suhr writes. "But where is your data stored and who has access to it? Do you trust the big names in the cloud industry? Is everything secure in the cloud?"
"We say: With NextBox you get the best of both worlds: The convenience of the cloud, plus the security and privacy of your own NextBox, located in your home or office. With NextBox, you no longer need to hand over your private data to anyone anywhere in the cloud. Instead, your data treasures are right where they should be: Under your control on your own device with the cloud convenience you're used to."
The NextBox itself is largely built of off-the-shelf parts. The hardware is a Raspberry Pi 4 single-board computer in a custom-designed housing which fits the board itself, a custom daughterboard with hardware reset button, and a 2.5" SATA hard drive or SSD for storage. The software is based on the free and open source Nextcloud, running atop Canonical's Ubuntu Core 18, with the company's modifications published to GitHub under an unspecified license.
The company is now crowdfunding for the NextBox on Kickstarter, with hardware rewards starting at €189 for a model with 2GB RAM and a 240GB SSD and rising to €530 for a model with 8GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD (around $227 to $637 respectively). All hardware is expected to begin shipping in April this year.