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PCR has teamed up with VIP Computers and Synology to bring you answers to the top ten most frequently asked questions about NAS.
1. What is NAS?
Most storage solutions resolve around attaching a USB External Hard Drive to our computer for additional storage for data or backup, but when it comes to efficient data management, there is a better way… to use Network Attached Storage (or NAS for short).
2. What is the storage advantage of NAS compared to traditional or cloud-based ones?
Instead of connecting directly to an individual desktop or laptop computer, a NAS server connects to your wireless router. This effectively allows multiple users from multiple computers to access and share the content and files stored on it. Just copy your files, in one accessible place. The advantage over cloud is you host the files on your own hardware, ensuring the security of your data without the concern of your cloud host being hacked or closing its service down.
3.What is the personal cloud?
Personal cloud allows you to access the digital files located in your home from anywhere in the world, from any device. Unlike a traditional storage, a network drive is connected to your router, creating a personal cloud over the internet. This enables you to store and access content from multiple computers in the home on one drive. And since every picture and movie can be stored in one place, sharing memories with others outside the home is, in fact, as easy as connecting to the internet.
4.Is NAS more than just storage?
The feature rich NAS drives from Synology and Asustor come with apps pre-installed and allow third-party app development so they can be anything from a replacement to Microsoft Small business server to a home media centre. You can download anything from ERP, e-commerce and CRM and CCTV solutions to media streamers, NZB and bit torrent servers.
5.Isn’t NAS more expensive than traditional or cloud-based storage?
This depends on the amount of storage you require. Business users needing just 200GB of storage can recover the outlay in two years, while the initial outlay may be higher there is no yearly charges for hosting your own personal cloud. Plus, you have the advantages of when you need to upload larger volumes of data you can also physically connect to the device for convenience.
6.Is NAS a reliable product?
One of the key features of NAS drives is they allow the use of RAID storage, so your data is mirrored to ensure your business data or family videos are not relying on a single hard drive failure.
7.Is there a healthy margin in selling NAS products?
NAS drives offer a high average selling price (ASP) and good margins with resellers, offering end users preconfigured systems.
8.What are the most popular NAS brands to sell?
According to Context the market leader on NAS is Synology.
9.What feature does Synology have over other brands?
A key advantage of Synology over other brands is the software all Synology drives use. They run the same operating system and users can upgrade their existing NAS boxes as Synology releases upgrades, so a NAS box from previous years can enjoy the same features as the latest units on sales.
10. What are the future growth areas of NAS?
As the home user continues to generate content via video and pictures, the need for home storage is set to explode. Consumers expect to be able to access this content with ease via the home PC, tablet or mobile phone, and brands like Synology and Asustor are ensuring this works as seamlessly as possible with their Android and IOS apps.
