Data storage at home

Source: Cindy Lin
Date: 2015/04/09
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For data storage in residences, homeowners typically go for hard drives, memory cards, or USB drives; more tech-savvy ones might even opt for either personal network-attached storage (NAS) devices or cloud drives. Thanks to improved networking technology and infrastructure, consumers may opt for cloud storage for convenient data access from anywhere and its extendable storage space.

Apacer Technology offers a personal cloud drive specially designed for home called the “Apacer Cloud Drive”. The cloud drive serves as an IoT platform that can easily connect all devices at home with Apacer’s cloud server to allow remote control of these devices. It also features P2P technology that can bypass the vertical hierarchy of network structure. In addition, the company leverages the computing power of its cloud server by moving part of the processing to the cloud. For example, if the user needs to find a particular video, the Apacer Cloud Drive would send a file index to the cloud server to process. And when it is done processing, a command would be sent to the device to show the video the user wants.

“We want to simplify the operation in the smart home so that anyone can use. Our team is devoted to delivering enhanced user experiences, so that users would interact with the device more frequently,” said Dairo Wang, director of the Innovative Application Product Department at Apacer.

With the burgeoning DIY home security products in the smart home market, such as smart cameras and door/window sensors, self-monitoring is a popular choice for homeowners. Simply install one or more smart home cameras around the house, and users will be able to keep things in check even when they are away from home. With supporting mobile apps provided by camera makers, live streaming or stored footages can be viewed from a remote location.

As most videos or photos taken on home cameras are intended for private use, choosing a storage solution that ensures data privacy is crucial. This is why more and more consumers choose home NAS or other local storage devices as private data storage media. Other considerations include easy setup and management for the users.

Smart home cameras with storage capacity

Today, the majority of smart home cameras adopt local or remote storage. For cameras such as Netatmo Welcome, data is stored on a local SD card. Other cameras including Dropcam Pro or HomeMonitor HD store data to the cloud for free or for a monthly fee. For example, the latter offers 30 days of cloud storage for free, whereas the former charges a recurring fee for cloud storage based on storage duration.

The growing smart home camera market propels the demand of high-capacity memory card. “We are excited to enter this emerging market with a product that marks a significant milestone for the company and industry,” said Dinesh Bahal, vice president, product marketing, SanDisk.

“We recognized that today’s auto and home video monitoring systems require more demanding memory solutions.” SanDisk has developed a proprietary technology and process to enable high-intensity recording, a 64GB microSDxC/microSDHC/microSD card that allows consumers to write and rewrite up to 10,000 hours of Full HD video recording.

Integration with NAS expands NVR systems

Up until recent years, NAS has mostly been used for businesses that require specialized file servers. However, since NAS solution providers have made their way into the consumer market, more personal NAS options for the smart home are expected. To lower the barrier of entry for consumers, companies are putting significant efforts into simplifying the setup process and creating a fluid user interface with intuitive functions, such as drag-and-drop.

At home, NAS commonly acts as a hub that centralizes file storage, streaming, syncing, and sharing. Remote access is possible through web portals or designated apps. Companies like Synology, QNAP Systems, and ASUSTOR have developed their own NAS-based NVR systems for the home through dedicated surveillance software on the NAS.

Synology offers Diskstation Manager as the operating system of its NAS devices, in which Surveillance Station is a critical application devoted to providing intelligent monitoring and video management tools. Through integration with AXIS Network Door Controller solutions, Surveillance Station offers advanced integration of surveillance and access control for users.

“We pair access logs from AXIS Network Door Controller solutions with our surveillance videos, so you can click on the time of access for playback to see if there is a match in identification,” said Max Wu, product manager at Synology.

QNAP offers a dedicated Surveillance Station app that run on its Turbo NAS. “The app provides the full feature set of a professional home surveillance system without any complicated setup, and has compatibility with a wide range of IP cameras from popular and mainstream brands,” said David Tsao, product manager at QNAP.

ASUSTOR has created App Central to complement its NAS devices, where over 160 apps are available free for download. Just install the Surveillance Center App, and your ASUSTOR NAS gets turned into your home surveillance center right away. James Su, product manager in the Sales & Marketing Division at ASUSTOR, said, “Surveillance Center 2.3 is a simple-to-use solution that expands on the functionalities of previous versions. It supports Event Action Rules, which allows users to customize and automate actions based on events. For example, when one camera is down, you can set for another camera to start recording automatically and for alerts to be sent via email or push notifications.”

In this feature, we have compiled 13 data storage solutions for home.