I see that Drobo's got two new units out, both with Thunderbolt and USB3, which is not commonly seen in Thunderbolt storage as of yet. Their 5D is a 5-drive desktop unit, and their Mini is a 4-drive portable. They seem to be positioning these as great for storage and backup - but there hasn't been much said about their viability as editing/media drives. I realize they're very new, but does anyone out there have any experience with these yet? I'm thinking in terms of whether steady, reliable DNxHD capture and playback can be expected from them. I know in the past, Drobo speed has been an issue, but that was also with slower connection types.
If it works well, I can see the Mini being a good fit in the field, with something like a MacBook Pro and a Thunderbolt unit like an AJA ioXT, Blackmagic Intensity Shuttle, MOTU HDX-SDI, etc. Or, the 5D could be a good fit as a desktop media drive for something like a small iMac-based system. The new iMacs won't have any option for a second internal drive, so external will be the only way to go for media storage.