NAS is seeking change. Can the “0 cost, low threshold” Master Lu stand out?

The rapid development of Internet technology has promoted the process of global information explosion. How to efficiently store and use these massive amounts of data has become a major problem that troubles enterprises and even individuals. From USB flash drives to mobile hard drives, to various online cloud drives, and the increasingly popular NAS... storage solutions have also developed with the growing demand for personal and family data storage. Today, NAS, once regarded as an "enterprise-level storage solution", has gradually entered the homes of ordinary people and has become an ideal solution for ordinary consumers.

What is NAS?

Initially, NAS (Network Attached Storage) was just a simple concept - a file server unit dedicated to managing and maintaining large amounts of data, and allowing multiple users to share and access data over the network. Compared with traditional storage solutions, NAS has the advantages of higher scalability, higher security, stronger manageability, and relatively low cost.

NAS products are mainly composed of hardware components, software systems, connection interfaces, security modules and other core components. In traditional NAS products, hardware components such as processors, memory, hard disk drives, solid-state drives and other hardware components are inevitable cost expenditures; while software systems such as operating systems, management and application programs make the use of products have certain technical barriers... Therefore, NAS products were mainly small-scale "enterprise-level storage solutions" in the early days.

Over the years, NAS has continuously integrated new technologies, such as increased hard drive capacity, RAID technology configuration for data protection, and the introduction of home-grade NAS devices. By the beginning of the 21st century, NAS systems began to support multiple protocols and provide features such as remote access and automatic backup solutions. At this point, the stage for the NAS revolution has been set.

The NAS industry is in a blue ocean, with major manufacturers entering the market

In recent years, driven by various factors, the NAS market has grown significantly. According to a report released by a foreign research organization, the global NAS market size will be approximately US$33.97 billion (equivalent to approximately RMB 241.7747 billion) in 2023. It is expected to reach US$39.775 billion (equivalent to approximately RMB 283.0906 billion) in 2024 and grow to US$76.04 billion (equivalent to approximately RMB 541.1995 billion) in 2028. During the forecast period, the compound annual growth rate is approximately 17.6%.

The scale of the domestic NAS market is also not to be underestimated. According to a report released by Zhiyanzhan in June this year, the scale of China's NAS industry market was 7.446 billion yuan in 2019; the scale of the NAS industry market in Q1 2024 was 2.827 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.98%. During the forecast period, the growth rate of China's NAS industry market scale from 2024 to 2030 is 7.18%-10%. Among them, the scale of China's NAS industry market in 2030 will reach 17.472 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.84%.

Whether in the global market or the domestic market, the growth trajectory is mainly attributed to the growth of household and personal storage demand in addition to traditional corporate demand. With the explosive development of industries such as video and AI technology, the demand for data storage by individuals and families will still usher in a new wave of growth peaks.

Because of the shortage of personal storage space, many ordinary users have begun to choose NAS products to solve their data storage, sharing, and backup problems. In the next few years, the development of the domestic NAS market will usher in an unprecedented new height. Therefore, whoever can win these users will undoubtedly become one of the leaders in the NAS segment.

NAS bottleneck needs to be broken, who can take over?

In view of the development potential and more possibilities of the NAS market, more and more companies have chosen to join this track. In addition to traditional manufacturers such as QNAP and Synology, new forces such as Jikong and UGREEN, Internet giants such as Huawei, Xiaomi, and Master Lu have also entered the market. So far, whoever can solve the pain points of the traditional NAS industry will stand out.

For families and individual users, the most important thing is undoubtedly the ease of use and cost of use. The hardware configuration of entry-level traditional home NAS is often relatively low, and the price is not cheap. Not to mention that traditional NAS products still require a certain operating threshold, which obviously cannot meet the growing needs of ordinary consumers. The innovative changes in the NAS industry are in full swing...

The entry of new local players has lowered the cost threshold to some extent, but the problem of inconvenient operation still exists. In fact, although the cost has been lowered, even the price of basic entry-level products can reach the mid-three-digit or even four-digit range. For most personal and family users, it is still an expense that needs to be recorded in the account book. Therefore, there is still room for this threshold to be lowered.

The emergence of Master Lu's AiNAS has solved the various problems existing in traditional NAS products, effectively lowered the entry threshold of NAS, and it can even be said that in a sense it has broken the development bottleneck and market deadlock in the NAS industry.

Master Lu AiNAS simplifies all the tedious steps. You only need to install the application with one click to log in and use it directly. There is no technical threshold and it can be done in just a few minutes. The user interface is intuitive and easy to use. It supports multiple terminals such as iOS, Android, and the official website console. The elderly and children at home can also access it easily. Whether it is data management or data search, it is more convenient. After using Master Lu AiNAS, there is no need to look for tutorials everywhere. Even people who have never been exposed to NAS, do not understand technology, or even do not understand the Internet can easily get started.

In addition, the idea of ​​Master Lu AiNAS to "make" a NAS for users by activating idle PC products through software is also very friendly to ordinary users. There is no need to purchase expensive NAS hardware, and you can use idle computers, which directly reduces the cost of use to 0. This alone is beyond the reach of most NAS products on the market.

Furthermore, Master Lu AiNAS provides two modes: "Free Basic Edition" and "Paid Professional Edition" to meet the needs of different users. Of course, for ordinary users like me, the basic services provided by Master Lu AiNAS Free Edition are sufficient to meet the needs. If you have higher needs, the paid professional version is also a good choice. At present, the prices of NAS products from major brands on the market vary greatly. Depending on the configuration, brand and function, the price range can range from a few hundred yuan to several thousand yuan, and this does not include the cost of equipment upgrades and later maintenance. In comparison, even the paid Master Lu AiNAS Professional Edition will still be much cheaper.

In fact, the emergence of Master Lu AiNAS is a good thing for both the industry and users. While many manufacturers are competing for "hard power", Master Lu has opened the track of "soft power", which undoubtedly points out a new direction for other NAS manufacturers; unlike the high requirements and high expectations of deep NAS players for hardware and systems, for ordinary users, simple, easy-to-use and free products are the best choice.

Final Thoughts

NAS is an industry that is constantly evolving and innovating. From the humble data storage and sharing solution at the beginning to the pillar of enterprise infrastructure and now entering the homes of ordinary people, NAS has come a long way. Admittedly, the new NAS forces are still facing great challenges and have a long way to go. However, mature products require not only the efforts of manufacturers, but also the help of users. If you are already hesitating at the door of NAS, you might as well try Master Lu AiNAS.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.