Synology’s Enterprise Push

Summary

Synology has launched ActiveProtect, a backup appliance aimed at the enterprise market. It combines Synology’s hardware and software, offering features such as global deduplication, immutable backups, and air-gapping. This launch is part of Synology’s broader push into the enterprise market, with plans for additional high-performance storage offerings in the future.

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** Main Story**

Synology, you probably know them for their excellent SMB and consumer NAS solutions. But, they’re making a pretty significant move into the enterprise market now with their new ActiveProtect backup appliance. It’s a strategic shift, no doubt, leveraging their two decades of hardware and software expertise to target larger organizations. ActiveProtect, from what I’ve seen, offers a compelling blend of features, scalability, and, importantly, simplified licensing, all designed to tackle the ever-changing data protection challenges that modern enterprises face.

ActiveProtect: More Than Just Backup

The ActiveProtect appliance line is really interesting because it integrates Synology’s hardware and software seamlessly, creating a turnkey solution for enterprise backup and recovery. The appliance is powered by an AMD processor and is available in five models. So, you’ve got everything from tabletop versions for smaller offices to rackmount units capable of handling thousands of workloads. And the software, ActiveProtect Manager (APM), it’s a centralized console that can support up to 150,000 workloads or 2,500 sites! They’re touting that it provides “enterprise-grade data visibility and control.” Which, let’s be honest, is what everyone wants these days.

Let’s break down some key backup capabilities:

• Global source-side deduplication: Basically, it minimizes storage by only backing up unique data blocks. Makes sense, right?
• Immutable backups: Critical for protection against ransomware. Backups that can’t be touched, modified, or deleted. A must have.
• Air-gapping: A further security enhancement, isolating backup data from the main network. Think fortress.
• Regulatory compliance support: Helps organizations tick all the boxes when it comes to data protection compliance.

ActiveProtect isn’t picky; it supports a broad spectrum of workloads, including VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, NetApp OnTap, Nutanix Files, Microsoft 365 services, Oracle Database, and Microsoft SQL Server, and the list goes on. It also plays nice with cloud storage, like Synology’s C2 Cloud Storage and other S3-compatible platforms, allowing for a hybrid cloud strategy. I think that’s smart; not everyone is all-in on the cloud, and having options is key.

Licensing That (Hopefully) Doesn’t Make You Scream

Synology’s aim is simplifying licensing with ActiveProtect, which, if they pull it off, will be a big win. It’s a common frustration for growing businesses. The base license covers backups for up to three backup servers. Which is helpful, no more headaches of per-workload charges…unless you’re massive, of course. Additional licenses are available for larger deployments. Plus, they’re introducing a premium support service, promising better assistance and faster response times for critical issues, which is good because you don’t want to be stuck when something goes wrong, right?

The Enterprise Arena: Challenges and Opportunities

Okay, so ActiveProtect sounds promising, but let’s be real; Synology’s going up against some heavy hitters. Dell Technologies and HPE are established enterprise backup and storage giants. Not to mention, tons of big companies have already jumped on the hybrid cloud or cloud SaaS backup bandwagon. So, how does Synology compete? Well, their success hinges on demonstrating the value of their integrated appliance approach. They need to really hammer home the ease of use, scalability, and cost-effectiveness angles. And, honestly, it may be particularly attractive to SMBs stepping up into smaller enterprise environments. Think of it as a simpler, potentially more affordable alternative to those really complex enterprise solutions.

Plus, Synology’s plans to expand into high-performance, scale-out storage could further solidify their position. So, there’s a lot to watch out for there.

Synology’s Enterprise Future

As of today, ActiveProtect’s launch is their big step into the enterprise backup appliance market. But what next? Ultimately, their long-term success relies on constant innovation, smart marketing, and building those crucial relationships with enterprise clients. Thing is, Synology knows NAS technology inside and out, and their focus on simplifying data management could make them a real disruptor in the enterprise backup and storage world. But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The next year will be telling. They need to keep expanding their enterprise product range and showing they’re committed to meeting the evolving demands of this market. And the ActiveProtect’s success, and how well they respond to feedback, that’ll be a big indicator of their overall enterprise strategy. Here’s hoping it goes well, eh?