Re:SMB (Score 1)

I agree, SMB has good compatibility and would be a good choice.

Consering the NAS, your requirements can be boiled down to:

High performance (Stability, high throughput, large volume)

Simple deployment (In terms of your own labor)

SOHO pricepoint ( under $5000 )

The problem is that you only get to choose 2.

High performance + simple deployment = Business-grade solution installed by consultant

High performance + SOHO pricepoint = Server with SATA Raid or ZFS

Easy deployment + SOHO pricepoint = SOHO NAS (ReadyNAS, Synology, etc)


Also, remember the backup. And backup is expensive, far more expensive than disk space.