Synology specializes in Network Attached Storage (NAS) appliances, has made it their mission to make Enterprise-functions affordable and usable for small businesses. Their products are known for their user-friendly interface, and ease of deployment in both consumer and corporate environments.
DiskStation
The DiskStation is a desktop-based tower-embedded NAS appliance, which ranges from one-bay to as many as twelve bays within a single enclosure. Some models feature storage scalability, where physical units may be tethered together for additional storage, without the need for volume recreation or loss of availability. Even the smaller 2-drive NAS devices include advanced features like Link-Aggregation and Failover support. Applications can be installed to suit individual needs including Antivirus, media streaming, backup, and even a fully-functional web/database server!
RackStation
The Synology RackStation is a true enterprise storage solution, integrating both file-level (NAS) and block-level (SAN) storage into one unified storage system. Files can be shared across all device types and common protocols (CIFS/SMB, AFP, NFS). RackStations are all certified for Virtualization applications including Hyper-V, VMware and Citrix. RackStation devices feature scalability with volumes up to 200TB. For a high-availability solution in larger enterprises, an active and passive server are combined into one cluster with realtime synchronization, giving your business the optimal Recovery Time Objective (RTO) for fast disaster recovery.
Synology DiskStation Manager (DSM)
At the heart of Synology’s popularity is the Sinology DiskStation Manager, a custom Linux-based operating system runs the DiskStation and RackStation products. DSM integrates the basic functions of file sharing, centralized backup, RAID storage, multimedia streaming, virtual storage, and using the DiskStation as a network video recorder. Synology also offers free mobile applications for its users, including support for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and Kindle Fire. Synology releases frequent updates to its DSM, with major updates happening biannually and minor updates throughout the year.
