Enterprise backup infrastructures continue to utilize storage solutions other than purpose-built backup appliances (PBBAs) as backup targets. While few statistics quantify how many organizations utilize NAS systems in lieu of PBBAs, storage providers themselves provide some clues.
DCIG has identified more than 20 storage providers offering 100+ NAS systems explicitly positioned for backup workloads. These include offerings from more well-known storage providers such as Dell and Everpure as well as Nexsan, TrueNAS, and Stonefly, to name a few. These numbers reflect how NAS platforms remain a viable option for organizations building scalable, cyber-resilient backup repositories.
Despite this common use case, enterprise buyers lack objective guidance for evaluating NAS systems used specifically as a backup target. Industry research and product comparisons on NAS systems continue to emphasize AI, primary storage, file sharing, or collaboration workloads. Few carefully examine how well NAS systems deliver on backup performance, cyber resilience, scalability, and backup software interoperability.
Recognizing this gap, DCIG has initiated comprehensive research into using NAS systems as general-purpose backup appliances. This research will culminate in multiple DCIG TOP 5 reports identifying the ones best suited for modern enterprise backup environments.
Backup Workloads Demand Specific NAS Capabilities
NAS evaluations emphasize traditional enterprise file storage workloads such as home directories, departmental file sharing, collaboration, and primary storage. These capabilities certainly remain important and will persist in the foreseeable future. However, they fail to address the unique demands that NAS systems must satisfy when deployed as backup repositories.
Backup workloads require a different set of capabilities. Organizations must evaluate specific criteria on NAS platforms such as how they:
- Implement data reduction features.
- Integrate file protocols and object storage APIs such as NFS, SMB, and Amazon S3.
- Interoperate with or be certified by enterprise backup applications.
- Replicate data either offsite or to multiple locations in a 1: N or N:1 configuration.
- Support long-term data retention.
- Sustain high-speed backup ingest and rapid recovery.
Modern backup repositories also demand robust cyber resilience and simplified management. Features such as immutable storage, ransomware detection, automated replication, management automation, and policy-based data protection also increasingly influence purchasing decisions.
Answering the Questions That Matter Most
As organizations increasingly deploy NAS platforms as backup repositories, buyers ask more sophisticated questions during the evaluation process. These include:
- Which systems provide the best backup target?
- Which ones offer the strongest ransomware protection?
- Which ones integrate most effectively with enterprise backup applications?
- Which scale to support future growth?
- Which ones support both traditional NAS protocols and object storage Amazon S3 APIs?
These questions extend well beyond the scope of traditional NAS evaluations and reflect the evolving role of NAS in enterprise data protection strategies.
To help organizations answer them, DCIG has initiated comprehensive research into NAS storage systems for backup. The resulting research will identify the platforms that best address these new management requirements of modern enterprise backup environments.
Evaluating What Matters Most in General-Purpose NAS Backup Appliances
DCIG’s research goes far beyond a traditional feature checklist. DCIG examines more than 250 technical features and capabilities on NAS systems when deployed as enterprise backup repositories.
The research measures more than what NAS systems can do. It also examines how effectively each one addresses the operational, scalability, cyber resilience, and management requirements of modern backup environments.
The evaluation begins with the underlying storage architecture. DCIG examines hardware characteristics such as scale-up and scale-out architecture, storage density, processor and memory resources, networking, and high availability.
It also assesses how efficiently NAS platforms support large backup repositories. It evaluates scalable namespaces, metadata architecture and file and object storage protocols. It also considers high-performance connectivity options using NFS, SMB, and Amazon S3 APIs.
Cyber resilience represents the research’s most heavily weighted areas. DCIG evaluates immutable storage, WORM file systems, and compliance and governance locks. Anomaly and ransomware detection, snapshots, replication, data integrity verification, non-disruptive upgrades, and self-healing capabilities also come into play. As ransomware continues to target backup infrastructure, these capabilities have become essential differentiators rather than optional features.
The research also measures how effectively each solution integrates into enterprise IT environments. Areas of evaluation include REST APIs, AI-assisted and predictive analytics, reporting, and backup application certifications or validated configurations, among others. These capabilities help determine how easily organizations can deploy, automate, secure, and manage NAS backup repositories at scale.
Finally, DCIG evaluates the provider behind each solution. Enterprise backup environments depend on responsive global support as much as technical capabilities. The research therefore considers worldwide technical presence, proactive support offerings, managed services, warranty options, and other value-added services. Together, these technical and operational criteria provide the foundation for DCIG’s forthcoming general-purpose NAS backup appliance TOP 5 reports.
Multiple DCIG TOP 5 Reports Will Follow
No single DCIG TOP 5 report can adequately evaluate every NAS storage system designed for backup. Enterprise and midrange organizations have different technical requirements, budgets, and operational priorities. Likewise, HDD, hybrid, and all-flash architecture each offer distinct advantages depending on workload characteristics, recovery objectives, and long-term capacity requirements.
To help organizations identify the solutions best suited to their environments, DCIG plans to publish multiple general-purpose NAS backup appliance TOP 5 reports. These reports will recognize that buyers evaluate backup storage differently. They base their decisions on budget, capacity, compatibility with their current infrastructure, cyber resilience capabilities, and performance.
An Opportunity for Technology Providers
DCIG invites technology providers to participate in this research to help ensure DCIG evaluate their solution(s) accurately and completely. DCIG offers providers the opportunity to review completed product surveys and verify technical information. Providers may also suggest additional appliance models that merit evaluation by DCIG.
Provider participation strengthens the accuracy and completeness of the research, but it does not influence the outcome. Every solution must satisfy DCIG’s published inclusion criteria and is evaluated using the same objective methodology. Participation neither guarantees inclusion in a DCIG TOP 5 report nor assures any specific ranking or recognition.
Helping Buyers Make Better Backup Decisions
Enterprise backup repositories have become strategic infrastructure, and organizations continue to use general-purpose NAS backup appliances to host them. While many of these platforms still provide inexpensive storage capacity, they must now do much more. Organizations increasingly expect these platforms to deliver cyber resilience, cloud integration, operational simplicity, and rapid recovery. As general-purpose NAS systems remain commonly used as backup targets, objective research into them serving in this role remains valuable. DCIG’s upcoming TOP 5 reports aim to help buyers identify the general-purpose NAS backup appliances best suited for this role.
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