When it comes to modern life, we need to ask ourselves a crucial question: do we actually own our data? Cloud platforms’ uploads have numerous user agreements that typically permit the platform owner to do whatever they want with your content. This issue is further complicated in South Africa by load shedding and limited internet access. Additionally, the software is often not owned by users and requires endless monthly payments.

Synology, a leader in edge data storage and backup, is making a significant push into South Africa with a different strategy. The company is renowned for its Network Attached Storage (NAS) and private cloud solutions and may have a secret weapon in what it offers for free.

We recently had a discussion with Chih-Hsi Hu, Synology’s Sales Account Manager, to learn more about the company’s offerings.

What Synology provides is genuine value for money.

“When purchasing the majority of Synology NAS products, you gain access to Synology DiskStation Manager (DSM). DSM contains an app store that provides users with access to a variety of free software that can be downloaded and used immediately, including consolidated backup and instant recovery applications for businesses, without the need for additional licenses or fees. This allows for a hassle-free experience where users can simply select the software they require and begin using it right away!” Chih-Hsi tells us.

This seamless, and fee-free, experience gives customers access to powerful tools that other companies charge heaps for, such as the Active Backup Suite and Hyper Backup. Powered by global deduplication and changed block tracking (CBT) technology, these tools not only can be used for both personal and business use without the licensing headaches, but the solution also greatly saves storage consumption across devices and saves backup time from the source side.

This approach to software reflects Synology’s commitment to three pillars: cost-effectiveness, flexibility, and scalability. The free access to all the software you could ever need is a massive part of Synology’s cost-effectiveness strategy, which helps ease the burden on your budget. The vast amount of software available provides unlimited agility to operate as you want, and Synology scales effortlessly.

Synology’s DiskStation, FlashStation, and RackStation NAS/server solutions are designed to be scalable as you go. Young companies or startups that have limited budgets on storage, can start small with an entry-level DiskStation and add more storage as time goes on without replacing what they already have. Larger companies can leverage FlashStation and RackStation for their high I/O, low latency, and scalable capacity. And for everyone in between, Synology has a solution available.

This article started by discussing the problems of modern storage, and it is worth noting that similar issues also apply to multimedia. While streaming and storing photos and videos has become a massive industry, it is also fraught with problems that can negatively impact consumers.

One of the main issues is that consumers no longer own the content they buy, but instead, they have to pay monthly fees for various services. Even with the cost factor aside, SaaS services can suddenly remove movies, TV series, or music that users love or terminate online photo album services, leaving them with no access to something they have already paid for.

Given these problems, many consumers are switching back to buying the content they love and keeping it at home, stored on their private NAS (Network Attached Storage). Synology offers a solution for this, which users get for free with their NAS. Video Station handles movies, TV shows, and more with a host of features that make it a better option than simply playing files out of a directory. With support for TVs and mobile devices, posters, subtitles, parental controls, individual user accounts, and more, the Video Station Package is like setting up a private streaming service just for your content.

For music lovers, Synology also offers a similar solution in the form of the Audio Station Package. Audiophiles will appreciate the lossless playback feature with support for DSD and FLAC files, which means users don’t need to choose between quality and accessibility.

Finally, Synology Photos can help users automatically back up their photos and videos from their smartphones and devices, stream them on smart TVs, create albums with facial recognition technology, share their perfectly framed shots, and store them safely on their Synology NAS with full data ownership.

Synology, Rectron and you

Synology products are available to South Africa thanks to the work of distributor Rectron which will partner with you to create a personal cloud Synology solution for your business or personal use.

“The partnership between Synology and Rectron is a critical step in expanding Synology’s presence in the South African market. With Rectron’s established relationships and strong technical expertise, we believe that Synology’s solutions will be more accessible to a wider audience, providing a better experience for customers. We are excited to work with Rectron and leverage their strong after-sales support to ensure that our customers have peace of mind when deploying Synology’s solutions.” Chih-Hsi adds.

The partnership is focused on addressing the unique needs of the South African market. The three pillars of cost-effectiveness, flexibility, and scalability align well with the South African approach to business, where cautious spending is the norm. Furthermore, Synology’s storage solutions offer an excellent alternative for smaller companies that might be relying on less-than-ideal storage solutions such as tape or external hard drives to store critical data.

For South African businesses looking to maximize their budget while addressing challenges such as load-shedding and internet connectivity issues, the company offers a range of NAS options to meet every need, starting from one bay all the way to a multi-petabyte application that can easily expand to 300 drives. With its focus on providing free access to powerful software and an extensive range of NAS products that can be easily scaled up or down as required, Synology is well-positioned to address the unique storage challenges faced by South Africans.

Learn how to get your first NAS: https://sy.to/7rhsi

Contact Synology: https://sy.to/skmz4