From DiskStation Manager to private AI platform
Synology’s next-generation DiskStation Manager (DSM) is an AI-ready private cloud operating system that turns traditional network-attached storage into a governed, on-premise AI data platform for enterprise-scale management, analytics, and automation. Built on more than 20 years of DSM data management experience, the platform evolves from file and backup services into a central hub for private AI platform workloads. Synology cites 14 million systems shipped and more than 400 EB of data managed as proof that DSM already sits at the core of many organisations’ storage infrastructure. Now that base is being expanded to support AI agents that can use business data, system logs, and metrics without leaving the organisation’s environment. According to Philip Wong, Chairman and CEO of Synology, “enterprise AI adoption is no longer the challenge, data control is,” and DSM’s direction is meant to keep data residency, privacy, and sovereignty under IT’s direct supervision.
Agentic workflows and DSM Agent for IT operations
Synology is building DSM around agentic workflows that connect AI directly to daily IT tasks. DSM Agent, a built-in AI assistant, starts as an on-demand consultant for troubleshooting and system management but is intended to grow into a more autonomous operations agent across the DSM ecosystem. It can help with routine health checks, service monitoring, and proactive alerts, and it supports backup validation, gap detection, and restoration guidance. For security teams, DSM Agent is designed to examine suspicious logins, anomalous file activity, and log indicators, turning DSM data management into a source of continuous security insight. Governance is built into this agentic layer: guardrails, user and group permissions, capability-level controls, and detailed tool permissions help ensure AI workflows respect existing DSM permissions and package policies, preserving data governance security while introducing automation.
On-premise AI infrastructure and cluster management
To reduce dependency on public cloud services, Synology is pairing DSM with on-premise AI infrastructure that keeps processing near the data. GPU-equipped RackStation 26-series systems and dedicated AI appliances provide local inference for private AI agents, while AI Station adds multi-GPU cluster support for larger model workloads. DSM now includes cluster management, centralized monitoring, and large-scale deployment capabilities so IT teams can run enterprise storage AI and analytics across fleets of devices. This aligns DSM data management with private AI platform requirements: models can be deployed via OpenAI API-compatible interfaces, mixing self-hosted and cloud-based LLMs, and Synology plans built-in local models for simpler deployments. By locating AI computation inside the data centre, organisations can improve performance, control bandwidth usage, and keep sensitive content within their own infrastructure.
Data governance, compliance, and security controls
Synology is positioning DSM as a foundation for data governance security, with new controls aimed at compliance-driven environments. Expanded role-based access control, data access visibility tools, and centralized log management give administrators clearer oversight of who accesses which data and when. AI workflows are framed by input, action, and output rails that describe how agents can use files, packages, and system resources. Synology highlights support for regulation-focused deployments, including guardrails, data loss prevention, and granular permissions that span DSM, packages, and AI tools. While the company has referenced FIPS 140-3 aligned security for enterprise AI, its broader message is about keeping AI workloads and audit trails on-premise. For many organisations, this combination of observability and policy enforcement is what turns DSM from a storage OS into a controlled private AI platform, rather than another opaque AI service.
Productivity and knowledge management on a private AI cloud
Beyond infrastructure, Synology is using DSM to turn unstructured data into a private knowledge base. The Synology Office Suite’s AI Assistant provides a private generative AI workspace with content drafting, refinement, email summaries and replies, natural language formula search, live translation, and meeting summaries. Under the hood, DSM will process text, audio, images, and scanned documents with speech-to-text, image captioning, OCR, and embedding tools so AI agents can reuse existing corporate information. According to Synology’s NAS Business Group leadership, the updated system is built for both AI and enterprise demands, enabling private AI workflows with governance and fleet management. Combined with new collaboration tools like ChatPlus and Meet, DSM aims to be not only an on-premise AI infrastructure layer but also a day-to-day productivity platform that keeps enterprise storage AI close to the data and under IT’s control.
