Navigating India’s NAS Market: Russell Chen on Synology’s Innovative Edge and Future Plans

In this insightful interview with Amit Singh, Russell Chen, South Asia Sales Manager, International Business, Synology, discusses the challenges organizations face during IT transformation and how the company is addressing these through its innovative products and strategic partnerships. He also delves into the recent trends in the NAS market and Synology’s plans for future expansion, including the launch of enterprise-level NAS solutions designed to meet the needs of small to medium enterprises (SMEs) and larger enterprises

Amit Singh: Please let us know about Synology’s presence in India, and what are some recent achievements you’d like to highlight?

Russell Chen: Synology is a well-established company, and we’ve been in the Indian market for over 15 years. Although we’re not new to the market, we’ve experienced significant growth, particularly after the pandemic. In 2022, we achieved more than 70% worldwide growth, and since then, we’ve consistently enjoyed around 20% year-over-year growth. We view the Indian market as extremely important and full of potential, especially as an emerging market.

Amit: As organizations undergo IT transformation, what are the most common hurdles they encounter? How can they align their technology investments with their strategic business goals?

Russell: Currently, the trend in storage solutions focuses on three key features. The first is ease of deployment. For example, with our NAS solutions, our operating system is integrated, making the user interface very intuitive and easy to deploy. The second is cost-effectiveness. Compared to the larger brands in the market, our solutions are more affordable while still delivering high performance. The third is security. We invest heavily in security, including having our own P13 team dedicated to investigating vulnerabilities worldwide. So, ease of deployment, cost-effectiveness, and security are the primary trends driving the storage business right now.

Amit: Can you share some of the recent trends in the NAS market, particularly in data management and storage? How has this market evolved over the last few years?

Russell: There are two significant trends I’d like to highlight. First, in the manufacturing sector, we see many factories moving from China and other countries to India, making it a crucial hub for manufacturing. However, with the growth of these factories, there is a need for secure and large storage pools to manage all the data. The second trend is in the media sector. We have sold numerous NAS units to post-production companies, broadcast users, TV channels, and Bollywood studios. With advancements in technology, using better cameras and videography, the amount of data generated has increased, necessitating secure and cost-effective storage solutions.

Amit: How does Synology differentiate itself from other vendors in the market? What makes Synology stand out?

Russell: While other vendors may focus solely on hardware development and specification comparisons, we consider ourselves both a hardware and software company. We develop our own operating system and applications. By using our applications, customers don’t need additional licenses, and they benefit from a stable, integrated solution. This combination of robust hardware and proprietary software is a key differentiator for us in the industry.

Amit: Can you elaborate on some of the partner-focused initiatives that Synology has undertaken in the Indian market?

Russell: We currently have three national distributors and many sub-distributors across various states in India, working with hundreds of partners, including system integrators. Last week, we held a co-hosted event with our partner, Eagle Information, in Delhi, where we educated users about our solutions. Today, we’re holding another event in Mumbai with our key partner, DataSkillSystem, which has an experience center where key accounts can schedule appointments to see and test our NAS products, or even conduct a proof of concept if needed.

Amit: What are your top focus areas and plans for the next couple of years?

Russell: So far, we’ve established a strong presence in the SMB market with our NAS products. However, starting this October, we will launch a new product specifically for backup purposes. Next year, we plan to introduce scale-out servers and NVMe NAS solutions. Our goal is to expand our offerings beyond SMBs to also cater to SMEs and enterprise-level clients, fulfilling their needs with enterprise-grade NAS solutions.