It’s almost surprising to think that Synology hasn’t created a unit like the before, but here we are, and Synology wasn’t holding back on the spec sheet either. The company is describing this as “as a comprehensive business-ready desktop NAS”. It certainly appears so.

The DS3018xs has a relatively small footprint, but has 6 bays, and is built to be adaptable and expandable in the sense that it can be connected to Synology’s own DX1215 expansion units for a max connectivity of 30 drives. But more than just built with interlink capability, it’s built with an advanced dual-core 2.2GHz processor, the ability to scale ram up to 32GB, four Gigabit LAN ports, and if you’re so inclined, an optional 10GbE network interface card, delivering stunning performance at over 2,230 MB/s sequential reading and 265,000 sequential read IOPS.

[REWIND: LaCie Rugged USB-C Review | Bridging The Gap Between The Computer You Have Now & Your Next]

All in all this looks like a system that really has video users in mind, and since more photographers are involving video into their workflow, units like this are becoming ever more enticing to us all. Given the spec sheet we can expect the units to have no hiccups when dealing with high resolution video and transcoding. Here’s the official release below:

*Also, keep an eye out as we have reviews of the LaCie 6Big USB-C and LaCie 2Big USBC coming in the next few weeks.

From Home to Business: Synology® Unveils New XS/Plus/Value-Series Product Lineup

  • XS-series DS3018xs: Synology’s first 6-bay tower NAS with optional 10GbE and M.2 SATA SSD supports
  • Plus-series DS918+, DS718+, and DS218+: Greater performance and data resiliency for intensive workloads
  • Value-series DS418: Introduction of 4K online transcoding capability

To allow for ultra-high performance using SSD cache without occupying internal drive bays, DS3018xs features a PCIe slot, which can be installed with a dual M.2 SATA SSD adapter card (M2D17). DS918+ comes with dedicated dual M.2 NVMe slots at the bottom where you can directly install M.2 NVMe SSDs. DS418 features 10-bit H.265 4K video transcoding.

XS-series:

DS3018xs, Synology’s first 6-bay tower NAS, is compact but powerful as it features the advanced processor Intel Pentium D1508 dual-core 2.2GHz (Turbo Boost up to 2.6GHz) with AES-NI encryption engine, offering scalability of RAM up to 32 GB and of storage capacity up to 30 drives with two Synology DX1215. In addition to four Gigabit LAN ports, DS3018xs takes advantage of boosting maximum throughput with an optional 10GbE network interface card, delivering stunning performance at over 2,230 MB/s sequential reading and 265,000 sequential read IOPS.

Plus-series:

DS918+ and DS718+ are powered by Intel® Celeron® J3455 quad-core processor. DS218+ is powered by Intel® Celeron® J3355 dual core processor. All these models are equipped with AES-NI hardware encryption engine. Powered by transcoding engine, these Plus-series NAS servers support up to two channels of H.265/H.264 4K video transcoding. The RAM can be scaled up to 8 GB for DS918+, and up to 6 GB for the other two products, allowing you to operate more intensive tasks at once. DS918+ and DS718+ are equipped with two LAN ports, and their storage capacity can be scaled up to 9 and 7 drives respectively with Synology DX517.

“Responding to the demands from our customers, DS3018xs is built as a comprehensive business-ready desktop NAS. Running mission-critical applications or planning virtualization deployment with DS3018xs has never been easier.” said Vic Hsu, CEO of Synology Inc. “The new DS918+, DS718+, and DS218+ are optimized to be your digital video libraries, and will bring you excellent experiences with high definition live video transcoding anywhere you go.”

Value-series:

DS418 is equipped with a 1.4GHz quad-core processor with hardware encryption engine, 2 GB RAM, and two LAN ports. Powered by the hardware transcoding engine, DS418 supports H.265 4K transcoding to serve as your media library. DS418 is ideal for offices and home users to manage, protect, and share the critical data efficiently.

DS3018xs, DS918+, DS718+, DS218+, and DS418 run with DiskStation Manager (DSM) 6.1, one of the most advanced and intuitive operating systems for network-attached storage devices which offers a wide range of applications to bring better productivity at work. Synology has received numerous media accolades, such as topping the mid-range NAS category in TechTarget’s storage solution survey and PC Mag Readers’ Choice for seven years in a row.