Introduction

The plan for 2012 was to bring in more NAS products from a wider range of manufacturers. That was the plan at least, but somewhere along the line a flood of consumer SSDs took over our lives.

Still, in 2012 we brought in Synology, the last piece in what makes up "The Big Three"�. Synology makes a wide range of products and is the most innovative NAS manufacturer on the market today.

Just like Thecus and QNAP, Synology uses a common software layer for its products. For a number of users who just use their NAS to store data, the software is something that you set and forget. NAS products used in both home and business environments have outgrown their typical storage usage model. It's really difficult even call these devices Network Attached Storage devices anymore because that is only a small sample of their capabilities. It's a bit like calling your sport utility vehicle only good for taking the kids to school.

Last week Synology released its latest software that resides on the NAS, version 4.1. Today we're taking a deep dive into the new 4.1 software layer and in the coming days looking at a new NAS appliance from Synology that is both affordable and powerful.