DSGN

OS X Server · Synology OS

DGSN Associates provides architectural, planning, interior design, and graphic design services to clients around the world. Their work includes both new construction and adaptive reuse of pre-war and post-war historic buildings. They’ve won more than 50 design awards, from the American Institute of Architects and numerous industry, civic, and sustainability organizations.

I connected with DSGN through their involvement in the Flora Lofts project. They’re a Mac-based firm, which is right in my wheelhouse — I was the IT Director for a Mac-based event management company for 10 years. The designers at DSGN were sharing network resources through an outdated Apple XServe located on-site. This had served them well for a number of years, but they needed more storage and redundancy. They were also interested in having something easier (than OS X Server) to administer.

As they had no need for an on-site web or email server, I replaced their aging XServe with a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device. Installing a NAS increased their storage space considerably and added a much needed extra layer of redundancy. As a bonus, their NAS gives them a simple way to share large files with clients without resorting to 3rd party sites like Dropbox, and serves as a network Time Machine target for their workstations. All for 30-40% the cost of a comparably equipped Xserve or Mac Pro.