CrossPoint Telecom
We came from using another NAS brand in the ‘casual corporate NAS' space, to being very impressed by how rich and easy to use the GUI (graphical user interface) on the Synology NAS was after being recommended by a colleague. We have found the Synology to be one of the most stable and reliable devices in our environment. The amount of ways that we deploy the various Synology devices just keeps on growing. Mathew Arentz, Senior Technical & Project Manager, CrossPoint.
The Company
The Challenge
Previously CrossPoint had been using a Synology RS2414RP+, set up in their Sydney datacentre, as the company's primary document management system. Engineers and subcontractors worldwide were given direct VPN access to the Sydney network, and accessed files and services on the RS2414RP+ via network share. Staff in the Singapore office, in addition, utilised Synology's Cloud Station feature to synchronise their PC with the NAS to keep a local copy of the files.
As the need for transferring more large diagrammes and presentations grew, CrossPoint's Singapore office started to look for a solution that could complement the existing setup and offer faster local access. It was also hoped that the solution would become a disaster recovery plan for the company, removing the sole reliability of their services on Australia and achieving country-based survivability.The Solution
After deciding to replicate the Sydney datacentre setup in Singapore, CrossPint didn't look any further than purchasing another RS2414RP+. Mathew Arentz, Senior Technical & Project Manager at CrossPoint, described his experience with Synology: "We came from using another NAS brand in the ‘casual corporate NAS' space, to being very impressed by how rich and easy to use the GUI (graphical user interface) on the Synology NAS was after being recommended by a colleague. We have found the Synology to be one of the most stable and reliable devices in our environment. The amount of ways that we deploy the various Synology devices just keeps on growing."
Cloud Station ShareSync offers geographically diverse redundancy and higher performance with local access
Synology's Cloud Station ShareSync package is installed on the RS2414RP+ at both CrossPoint's Sydney and Singapore office, and configured to synchronise with each other. This makes sure whenever anything is uploaded to the Sydney NAS, it will be automatically synchronised to the Singapore NAS, and the staff there can access the latter directly as their primary SMB share. With direct dark fibre connection, the file transfer speeds through local access have been significantly increased. At the same time, this setup allows both NASes to work as an off-site backup of the other, minimising data loss and business disruptions even if disaster strikes.
Seamless integration into the existing enterprise infrastructure
Synology NAS provides comprehensive protocol support, enabling IT engineers to integrate it into a company's existing network infrastructure. At CrossPoint, besides hosting their document management system, RS2414RP+ also serves as iSCSI target for temporary VMWare data stores, NFS for VMware image storage, VM backup storage target, rsync target for some appliance and dedicated server backups, among others. This demonstrates how well Synology NAS can fit into a virtualised environment as well as work in conjunction with other servers. Synology's support for Windows AD further allows RS2414RP+ to be integrated into CrossPoint's Windows domain networks, without having to maintain a separate set of user credentials.
An all-in-one server, easy to manage and monitor
Over time, the role of RS2414+ at CrossPoint has evolved far beyond just an enterprise-grade data storage. The company now also uses Synology's Surveillance Station to conduct video monitoring and recording on their premises, Cloud Station Drive to give their mobile workforce anywhere data access, FTP to provide remote client a "once-off" access, and DNS and DHCP servers for other branch offices. The Synology DiskStation Manager (DSM) operating system provides an advanced ecosystem for all these features, and moreover, an easy-to-manage-and-monitor user interface for administrators and ordinary employees alike.
"Our satisfaction comes from more than just these dimensions of the product – we are impressed by the flexibility of the product feature set, the extensibility of the externally developed modules, the knowledge out on the web, regular feature updates and after-sales support. We find that the user interface is intuitive and easy to learn for the new team members when they join," Arentz concludes.
Recommended Models
- RS2414RP+
Recommended Features
- Cloud Station ShareSync offers geographically diverse redundancy and higher performance with local access
- Seamless integration into the existing enterprise infrastructure
- An all-in-one server, easy to manage and monitor