Synology Solution Exhibition 2024 Taipei

(Article Still in Progress!)

Synology has been unusually talkative in advance of their latest launch event for 2024! All too often, they tend to hold back the bulk of their intended release plans for the year (in both hardware and software services) prior to their events, which can often lead to a lot of surprises. However, this year they went ahead and published a ‘teaser’ video that covered a lot of things well in advance. I think it would be fair to say that the bulk of what they were intending to show off was heavily targeted towards large businesses and enterprises.

This shouldn’t have proven much of a surprise, given that is the way the wind has been blowing with the brand in recent years (launching their own C2 cloud platform, their own branded storage media, a shifting focus in services designed to work in unison with SaaS and PaaS IPs, etc.). Nevertheless, the Synology Solutions showcase in Taipei (happening during the Computex 2024 event) has really doubled down on Enterprise problem-solving! From AI and hyper-scale to simplified multi-site backups and surveillance, let’s go over the big plans the brand has in the works for 2024, as well as try to see where they hope to be in the food chain of network storage next year!

The Synology GS Series

Synology is no stranger to large-scale storage. Last year, we saw the long-developed rollout of the High Density series (premiering a 60 Bay 4U Rackmount solution) and further refreshes in the Synology RS and SA series. However, it would appear that Synology has even loftier goals, with the launch of the Synology GS series – designed to massively scale up towards XX nodes (demonstrated as GS6400 rackmount devices) that, when clustered together, can scale up to an insane 20 Petabyte groups.

We are still awaiting details on the storage capacity scaling (i.e., will they arrive in pre-designated storage configurations), but they will no doubt roll out supporting the Synology HAT5310/HAS5310 Enterprise drives up to 20TB. The GS series appears to be in a slightly modified chassis (numeric LED panel and vent fascia) but seemingly will be using similar hardware/architecture to existing EPYC-powered systems already in the Synology RS/SA portfolio. Additionally, as the scale of the GS Clusters is so large, Synology are rolling out a dedicated GS Cluster switch to coordinate the whole thing. Pricing and capacity details are still TBC!

The Synology DP Series and ActiveProtect

Synology really made some noise on this one, and frankly, I can see why. The Data Protection series is a new tier of their portfolio that exclusively focuses on backup management, fast deployment, and simplicity. Arriving in rackmount hardware form (at least at launch), these systems will NOT arrive with DSM (the operating system of the majority of Synology NAS systems) but instead a dedicated backup appliance called ActiveProtect.

It appears to consolidate the features and functions of several parts of the Synology ecosystem (in particular Active Backup) in order to create a 10-minute setup backup solution for businesses who need robust and easily configurable backup management for:

• Local PC/Mac/Linux client machines
• Synology and 3rd Party Linux Server backups
• Cloud-Based Software as a Service (SaaS) data, such as Google Workspace and Microsoft 365
• Hyper-V/VMware virtual machines

The architecture of the ActiveProtect system also features a number of impressive restoration services built in, ranging from deploying backups of your cloud source VMs to a local VM deployed on the NAS and WORM-protected backups, to simple file/folder restoration and deduplication.

That last one is extra important, as not only does a single DP system with ActiveProtect deduplicate backed-up data in its immediate network circle, but when you deploy multiple DP systems across multiple sites in your business’ physical geography (i.e., sites globally) and have a dedicated target backup for them all, it will further deduplicate the data being sent from all those other DP systems too. You can find out more about the Synology DP series and ActiveProtect in the article below:

[Click Link to ActiveProtect Article]

Synology Unveils Its AI Integration with AI Console

This is something I think most of us saw coming! The integration of AI assistant services and AI language models into the majority of platforms we use on a daily basis has been pretty much non-stop these last 12-18 months, and it comes as no surprise that Synology is now moving into this. But to their credit, they have not rushed into this. In fact, although we saw very tentative steps and early demonstrations of where they would like it to go at their Taipei event in 2023 (see video HERE), they have not rushed into this. The Synology AI Console is their integration of AI assistant tools into a number of their collaboration tools, namely Synology Mail Plus, Office, and Chat.

These tools are designed to provide services that are tailored to these applications – not just a glossy portal/GUI with ChatGPT and other LLMs behind it. Such as the ability to provide a summary of larger email chains, provide context and proofreading of documents, craft responses to communication that are tonally appropriate, and more. Additionally, they state that the AI services will be completely optional, off by default, individually enabled, and have a framework in place that prevents sensitive information from being used in AI-generated content. The extent to how this is controlled and adapted by the system owner is yet to be fully confirmed, as is the level of control that is provided to the Synology NAS owner with regard to the AI’s reference points internally.

Video from a Synology event in 2023:

They do highlight that support of existing popular AI models that include ChatGPT, Microsoft Azure AI, and Google Gemini will be available when the service is launched (in beta, I assume), but I will be interested to see how far the brand will be willing to take AI integration (especially if they are going to allow flexibility in the AI models a user can connect with) as the ability to use AI tools with storage filing services, more creative search categorization, and analysis of system logs. We will have to wait and see… DSM 8?

Synology C2 Surveillance Station and Cloud Cameras

Although Synology has quite a few different apps and services in DSM, one of the most polished and universally praised examples is Surveillance Station. All Synology NAS systems that run DSM also include the Surveillance Station applications and the ability to add multiple cameras. However, 2 years ago, when Synology rolled out C2 Surveillance (a cloud failover and dual recording platform to be used in conjunction with SS), it was only a question of time before they went the extra step and created a ‘direct to cloud’ version of their Surveillance Station platform – C2 Surveillance Station.

This is a cloud-based UI of Surveillance Station that allows users to deploy Synology C2 cameras that record directly to the C2 Cloud. Now, there is an argument that this is something that other camera brands have always offered (i.e., a camera and a cloud subscription for recordings), and many choose Synology for their surveillance/CCTV as they have an in-house surveillance system in a DSM NAS.

However, that does not apply to everyone, and there are several different deployments that could see the benefits of a Synology surveillance system, but without deploying a Synology network storage appliance, such as:

• Building sites, where the network and PoE structure of surveillance cameras are not present
• Locations with a largely exclusive wireless network
• Mobile setups that require camera security, but have a regularly changing physical location
• Users who want the user-friendly surveillance UI of Surveillance Station, but are not interested in purchasing more than the physical cameras

Needless to say, after this initial reveal, there is still the question of pricing, i.e., will the cameras require a monthly storage subscription? Do the cameras support use for local Synology NAS Surveillance deployment as an option? We will have to wait and see closer to the physical launch.

New Fisheye Camera and 8MP Bullet Camera

(Article Still In Progress)

New Synology Flash NVMe and HDD Hybrid Rackmount (Still Early Development)

(Article Still In Progress)

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