Like in other parts of the world, Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) have proved to be the backbone of the Nigerian economy. Data reveals that SMEs contribute about 49 percent to the national GDP.
In addition, SMEs account for about 96 percent of the total number of businesses in the country and employ approximately 84percent of the local workforce in Nigeria.
For this sector and the economy, the lockdown necessitated by the Coronavirus pandemic meant a new level of economic depression. This added to the many challenges facing SMEs in Nigeria.
One factor, according to Ghassan Azzi, Sales Director, Africa at Western Digital, which indicates the improvement of the competitiveness of many enterprises is the usage of Information Technology in managing their business.
“In Nigeria, the impact of IT on SMEs operation performance has not been greatly explored. In this information age, manual operations are beginning to be inefficient with time and labour. Likewise, the new way of work necessitated by the Coronavirus pandemic has forced many SMEs in Nigeria to imbibe the use of information technology to survive,” Azzi, said.
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According to him, “the way we work and learn changed significantly in 2020 and it’s still evolving. In a flash, remote work has become the new norm.”
This massive shift, according to the sales director, means productivity and efficiency are changing everywhere and for everyone. However, he explained that working from home does not take away the requirements for data and files to be efficiently managed and for workers to stay productive – from work documents to family photos to music and movie archives and more.
Explaining further, Azzi said doing so goes beyond simply storing data, to backing up data. One of the main ways to accomplish this goal is with network-attached storage (NAS). In a NAS system, data is centrally stored on a handful of bays, typically filled with hard disk drives (HDDs) or solid-state drives (SSDs), he added.
Creating a robust NAS infrastructure is a necessity for backup, data protection, remote access and digital collaboration, analysts say and as a result, there is a spotlight on the need for storage solutions that offer high capacity, throughput, and reliability.
“The increase in storage capacity also means that some users can take advantage of NAS systems with fewer bays, while others won’t have to upgrade to a higher-bay system when they run out of space,” Azzi said.
Since the range of use cases for NAS has become increasingly diverse, he explained that industry players are now making it easier for users to match the right drive with their applications and workloads – from moderate small office/home office (SOHO) workloads to intensive small- and medium business (SMB) use, as well as more demanding environments. Western Digital has designed and tested certain HDDs for NAS environments, keeping the productivity requirements of content creators and businesses at the core.
Demands to store, share, and access personal data are increasing and as a result, NAS devices are tasked with balancing scalable performance and affordable cost. “Now, NAS applications for small office and home office (SOHO) can get a huge performance boost from SATA SSDs that are robust enough for most users, yet significantly faster than any HDD. Our WD Red™ SA500 is one example.”
The right drive for SOHO users
From experience, Azzi said many SOHO users rely on their systems for office file sharing, home backup or content archiving. Throughput and capacity are key considerations in these types of SOHO environments and WD Red Plus drives are built and tested for SOHO NAS systems, he said, adding that the “drives give you the flexibility, versatility, and confidence in storing and sharing your home and work files.”
For the demands of big business
WD Red Pro drives, including the latest 16TB and 18TB capacities, are designed specifically with medium to large-scale business customers in mind and are available for up to 24-bay NAS systems. Engineered with CMR recording technology at 7200RPM to handle high-intensity workloads in 24×7 environments, WD Red Pro drives are ideal for archiving and sharing, as well as RAID array rebuilding on extended operating systems such as ZFS or other file systems.
These drives, according to the sales director, add value by enabling employees to quickly sync and share their files, including backup folders, reliably in their NAS solution, thereby increasing productivity and efficiency.
Built for optimum NAS compatibility and larger NAS bay shock protection
WD Red Pro drives with NASware technology, according to the expert, take the guesswork out of selecting a drive. Optimized for NAS systems, the unique algorithm balances performance and reliability in NAS and RAID environments. Simply put, a WD Red Pro drive is one of the most compatible drives available for NAS enclosures.
Explaining further, Azzi said WD Red Pro drives are equipped with a multi-axis shock sensor that automatically detects subtle shock events and dynamic fly height technology, which adjusts each read-write function to compensate and protect the data.
“This combination of technology further protects the drives in larger 24-bay NAS environments and helps increase hard drive reliability. Built specifically for RAID and NAS environments, WD Red™ Pro drives come equipped with error recovery controls as part of NASware™ 3.0 technology to help reduce drive fallout in RAID applications,” he said.
As a leader in HDD and flash technologies, Azzi said his company is committed to addressing the evolving needs of its customers and to offering the right technology for each implementation.
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