Network Attached Storage (NAS) - Synology

What is a NAS device? Well I am glad you asked. A NAS device is a hardware enclosure that contains one or more hard drives, that it shares via a built in network connection. Most NAS devices are sold without any hard drives. The customer or VAR would then install the storage into the device. In the past NAS device was only used for storage of shared files. Basically it is a scaled down server. So the next logical question would be "What should I choose for my business model, a NAS device or a Server?" In the past this was easy to answer. Do you need the system to host email? What about hosting a web site? If so a Server would be recommended, but not any longer. Synology, a top end NAS manufacturer, has added in many features you would only find on a server. Now the choice is much more difficult.

Let's look at some of the specifics. A NAS device can handle many of the capabilites that a PC File Server can, usually at a lower cost. However, most of the newer PC File Servers can handle SAS hard drives, which perform better and have a longer reliability, which of course comes at a higher cost. Synology offers security on a per share basis as you would find on a PC based File Server and has many add-ons. These add-ons included email server, PHP & MySQL based web server, and others. The first thing in deciding between a file server and a NAS device is the software that you want to share. For instance if you require Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL Server, or a third party software that would require an app to be running on the server, then you will need a PC based File Server. If your goal is to share files, have redundancy, and security, then a NAS device may be right for you.

Why did we choose Synology as our technology partner? We like to research any technology we offer to our clients. Our goal is to provide quality equipment that does not require a PC tech to take care of the day to day services. When we started to look into NAS devices, Synology came to the top. They have multiple editors choice awards and provide fantastic tech support to their authorized vendors. For these reasons and more, we chose Synology as the NAS device we provide to our Virginia customers. If you would like more information on Synology, please visit their website to learn more about their NAS devices. For pricing information or questions, please feel free to give us a call at (703) 327-5680.