Synology: Major update for NAS and new cloud services

Synology announced some time ago that it was planning a major update of its NAS system in the summer. After a seven-month test phase, the time will come next week: DSM 7.0, the biggest update of the company’s NAS systems to date, will be released. Synology is also introducing four new C2 cloud services.

DSM 7.0: Numerous new features

The DSM 7.0 package focuses on security, system management and virtual team collaboration. Synology is coming up with numerous new features here that will significantly change the way people work with the company’s NAS. One major change is the log-in procedure, which is now additionally secured. Here, two-factor authentication via app, login via Windows Hello and via TouchID are available with the update, which should increase the security of the system.

Synology: frequently asked questions about the new DSM 7

Other changes include the usage statistics Active Insight, which are now displayed more clearly, and SSD caching, where writing back to HDDs has been significantly accelerated, which benefits the overall speed. The speed is also significantly increased during RAID rebuilds, since from now on only those parts of the hard disk are synchronized that are actually occupied with data.

Further innovations can be found in the backup options as well as in the photo management. From now on, it will be possible to backup the entire NAS system to another NAS, so that in case of a total failure of one NAS, all data would be backed up. Meanwhile, new filters and a new folder management are available in the photo management.

New C2 Cloud Services

In addition to the NAS update, Synology has unveiled four new C2 Cloud services that are primarily aimed at facilitating hybrid cloud solutions. The new services are a password manager, a file sharing solution, an identity manager and a cloud backup solution.

The new identity manager, C2 Identity, is designed to make it easier to access services from different devices. It not only works with cloud services, but is also intended to simplify verification on Windows and macOS devices. C2 Transfer, meanwhile, the file-sharing solution is meant to provide a secure and easy way to share files. To this end, Synology has created a solution that aims to quickly validate recipients. In addition, there is end-to-end encryption and a function that allows files to be requested.

The password manager C2 Password not only manages credentials, but also has cloud storage for particularly sensitive documents. End-to-end encryption is also provided here. Linking devices is possible without limits. Unlike the password manager, the new C2 Backup feature is not available for free. For $29 per year, there is 300 GB of backup storage space, and for $99 per year, two TB are available.