Maker of ‘open source NAS systems’ Kobol quits

Kobol, the company behind the open source Helios64 NAS, is shutting down. The makers say this is partly because it is now difficult to make electronics and control costs. In addition, the team has become demotivated.

According to the team, this lack of motivation is due to the fact that the three of them worked too long with the first deliveries of the Helios64 last year without hiring extra people. As a result, the team suffered ‘a little bit of a burnout’ and the company probably could not immediately continue working on, for example, a successor.

Because of those burnouts, the team now feels that they haven’t taken advantage of the “popularity” they knew then. All this caused the motivation of the team to drop. The team had plans for an improved version of the Helios64, but now the group feels there is no point in “forcing” Kobol, as the “original motivation and passion” is no longer there.

The company also points to the problems surrounding the manufacture of electronic products, with which they presumably refer to chip shortages. According to Kobol, this makes it difficult to get parts and to control costs. Kobol therefore stops; the founders are now looking for other work.

At the same time, they do not rule out the possibility that Kobol may return at a later time. They also want to put all the blueprints of the Helios64 online. This way people should be able to work on the NAS. In addition, the makers still want to offer support in their spare time.

Kobol is a Singaporean company that marketed a five-bay nas with an itx motherboard under the name Helios64. The complete NAS was for sale for $295, although consumers could also buy the motherboard for $189. The company previously released the Helios4 DIY kit. Kobol released open-spec systems, releasing as much technical data as possible and supporting open source software.