INDUSTRY WATCH
“ The importance of genome sequencing and mapping has become even more apparent over the past year in the effort to combat the pandemic ,” said James Wright , Cloudian ’ s Regional Director , A / NZ and Oceania . “ This industry is driving medical advancements all over the world and is key to beating the virus .
“ Reflecting AGRF ’ s leading role in the industry , the facility is leveraging its enhanced storage infrastructure to achieve better , faster research results that will enable continued innovation and ultimately improve people ’ s lives .” We asked Douglas Morrison , AGRF ICT Manager , further questions to find out more .
Can you explain how the storage system is enabling your organization to : ( 1 ) manage ( 2 ) protect and ( 3 ) access data ?
1 . HyperStore allows AGRF to use S3 object tags to easily categorize the data we generate and analyze . The auto-tiering feature grants AGRF flexibility when managing our data lifecycle . Coupled with HyperFile , legacy applications can still access data in a logical directory structure , without ever needing to know what is happening under the hood .
2 . Per-bucket storage policies allow differing levels of erasure-coding so AGRF can balance capacity utilization and data protection . S3 object versioning and data immutability ensures protection against both accidental deletion and malicious intent .
3 . Access via file and object allows AGRF ’ s internal applications native access to data . Using Cloudian for archival purposes ensures all data is accessible all the time . AGRF staff can now instantly access the data they require – reducing ICT overhead as there is no need to physically locate and load tapes .
What are the main advantages over your legacy system ?
The most significant benefit for AGRF ( and our valued clients ) is a reduction in time taken to access and process data . This reduces the turnaround time for AGRF clients which can have life-changing consequences in cases like cancer screening . Our legacy archival system required the ICT team to first locate , then load LTO tapes so archives could be restored and processed . Efficiency has increased as AGRF staff have ready-access to the data they require and ICT staff can direct their efforts elsewhere .
Cloudian bought with it more performance , redundancy , resiliency and scalability over our legacy system coupled with an attractive cost when compared to other offerings . AGRF ICT staff do not need to be storage experts as installation and on-going management is simple . The entire solution was provisioned within days .
Will the Cloudian HyperStore solution be able to cope with your future requirements ?
Absolutely . Cloudian HyperStore will scale to exabytes of object storage , ensuring continued use of the solution for years to come . The scale-out architecture means AGRF can add capacity without suffering the same performance issues as our legacy solution , while adding HyperFile nodes increases data access for legacy systems within AGRF . The multi-data center , multi-region , multi-tenancy and multi-controller features of the HyperStore and HyperFile products gives AGRF enormous flexibility for deployment in the future . Coupled with HyperIQ , AGRF has a single pane of glass for monitoring , reporting and analytics across the entire solution .
Douglas Morrison , AGRF ICT Manager
Why did you choose to work with the vendor ?
It quickly became clear that AGRF and Layer 8 Networks ( a Cloudian partner ) were alike – going above and beyond for each of our respective clients . Layer 8 Networks took the time to understand the challenges AGRF faced as a non-profit organization , with five sites across Australia , dealing with substantial amounts of data . Their customer service and engagement were fantastic , asking probing questions we hadn ’ t previously considered . Subsequently , the Cloudian solution they presented ticked all the boxes – not only meeting AGRF ’ s current requirements but providing effortless scalability and management as AGRF continues to grow . p
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