How Synology is helping businesses achieve digital sovereignty in the AI era

Synology is synonymous with offering data and networking solutions for businesses of all sizes, from network-attached storage (NAS) devices through to application suites and the AI-ready data infrastructure of today and tomorrow. But as AI scales and many look to cloud-based solutions to manage large-scale operations and workflows, the need to manage unprecedented data volumes while maintaining integrity and security remains a top priority.

4

Synology called this reality "data gravity," which includes economic concerns related to cloud storage fees, latency, data mobility, and regulatory constraints. However, it also includes security and compliance considerations, and why it's often more sensible to store critical datasets locally, where businesses and users can have direct control. This isn't an 'hey, let's go off the grid' rejection of cloud computing and services, but a rebalancing that opens the door to cost-effective scale and digital sovereignty for businesses of all shapes and sizes.

During a recent Synology Ignite 2026 event with the team, we got a closer look at how the company's on-site or on-premises data management solutions span the full stack of infrastructure, data layers, management, private cloud architecture, and practical local AI use cases. Best of all, instead of simply going through each layer in technical detail, we got to hear about real-world implementations from two Australian businesses that are achieving digital sovereignty in the AI era.

Data Sovereignty and Giving Australians the Health Information They Need

For those who haven't visited Australia before, in addition to the pristine beaches and Koalas clinging to gum trees in the bush, the country has one of the highest percentages of pollen-related allergies that can lead to serious medical issues. AirHealth is an institution focused on air quality and the related health information, founded by a team of scientists. In a nutshell, it measures and analyzes air quality across the country to empower the public with useful information to manage health conditions, while also working with governments and health institutions on research, early warning systems, and more.

AirHealth's Dr. Edwin Lampugnani, who has a PhD in genetics and plant molecular biology, talked us through the origins of the service, providing a keen insight into just how far technology has come in recent years. Thanks to modern technology and Synology's cost-effective, all-encompassing solution, AirHealth's transformation has been extreme.

4

Essentially, AirHealth has devices across the country that measure air quality and pollen levels, with tens of terabytes of raw data analyzed and distilled into real-world insights for millions of Australians and health services each year. But for most of AirHealth's three-decade-long history, it manually managed and processed all of this data. This means physically driving to each sensor location to retrieve data, then transporting it to a site where scientists would manually review it in a time-consuming process.

In addition to cases where hard drives were dropped or fell between car seats and were forever lost to time, this manual setup put a severe limitation on scalability. Adding a new sensor meant more manual labor, which makes AirHealth's transformation to a full-stack solution that includes automated data retrieval, a Sovereign Private Cloud, and an automated pipeline for analysis that includes local AI to accelerate research, a fascinating one.

Ultimately, for AirHealth, managing 60 terabytes or more of data on the cloud wasn't an option. However, being able to manage this complex Edge system proved to be relatively simple thanks to Synology's suite of solutions that enabled AirHealth to leverage local networks and infrastructure to transfer vast amounts of raw data, while also setting up a private cloud solution that scientists and researchers could access for their own work, creating new models or solutions, and even manage the system. This includes the versatile Synology Office, which is deployed as a cost-effective alternative to Microsoft 365, giving users full control over files, formats, and more.

"We've moved from technology from the 1950s, where we had non-scalable deployments," Dr. Edwin Lampugnani explains. "It's a huge improvement that means that we can now develop forecasting and algorithms that will better help and support people with respiratory issues, and now, we're moving towards hourly forecasts."

AI and Moving Data Critical Workloads Back to Private Infrastructure

It might seem modern or the new reality for businesses to leverage one of the various cloud services out there for data-intensive or data-focused workloads. Still, the question of where data is stored can be a real concern for organizations dealing with potentially sensitive information. LEAP Strategies' Grant Crough explained how his firm helped the Thomas Robert Group.

This company operates in the education space, where it has transitioned from a fragmented system of public and private cloud infrastructure spread across multiple sites to a private, connected solution powered by Synology.

4

With large files, various applications, and data ranging from emails to documents, the solution involves moving to a secure, centralized data center with Synology drives and the Synology Office Suite. This private cloud is accessible from anywhere, scalable, and ready for the AI future. More importantly, it was delivered with off-the-shelf components tailored and configured for the company. In this case, the catalyst wasn't to move away from the rising costs associated with public cloud services, but to empower the business with complete control over its data, which often meant handling large files in a previously fragmented and unstructured environment.

"It's control without compromise, and that is what digital sovereignty looks like in practice," Jacqueline Graciella, Synology's Australia and New Zealand Country Manager, explains. And when it comes to AI, Synology believes that, even though research shows only a small percentage of businesses are seeing a return on AI investments, the biggest barrier is "data readiness."

"According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), eighty to ninety percent of corporate data is unstructured," Jacqueline Graciella continues. "That includes documents, images, videos, and more. Most AI initiatives focus on structured data and automating. But most organisations are simply not architected to activate it at that scale. So even if AI adoption is there, the impact isn't, because without the right data foundation, AI remains experimental rather than transformational. And that's the shift that we want to explore."