NAS or large file solutions

[Ian Lubetkin]

We would like to implement SharePoint online for a client but have a few concerns.

1. while most files they will sync are 10 MB or less, we do have a lot of 150MB CAD files, as I understand it the OneDrive Sync client uploads those files via the WAN and then they are downloaded the same way to other users in the firm.  This seems to be very inefficient from a bandwidth standpoint since nothing is going over the LAN.  As a result i was looking for some sort of hybrid solution.  I know there are other products out there that allow a NAS on prem that syncs to a cloud file management system.  Does SP have a similar option?

2. how reliable is the 'map drive' option vs the OD sync client.  we might have 500+ GB of files and don't need everything synced locally. 

[#2]

Your best bet is OneDrive OnDemand if you have Windows 10, but otherwise I wouldn't trust having a bunch of people syncing a same location. OneDrive doesn't do differential sync for non office files so if everyone is syncing that file, then yes, your going to get 150MB file downloads across the board. 

If you do have Windows 10, then folks will only download the file that have it set to "Always keep a copy" option. Otherwise there will just be breadcrumbs or placeholders for the files and will download on a per need basis, essentially like a network drive. 

But using it for a file share replacement expecting to sync all those files I would not recommend that use case. If everyone uses the web, or only sync's a particular folder it might work, but your just asking for trouble in this instance especially if you have a lot of large files that are actively worked on. 

[#3]

And by OneDrive on Demand, I mean SharePoint as well. The client can also sync SharePoint libraries the same as OneDrive.