DATA STORAGE
Manageable backup for GE Healthcare
Berkshire-based Hawke Systems, suppliers of high-end storage and server
solutions, have installed a disk-to-disk array at GE Healthcare, to
improve the efficiency of day-to-day operations at the medical diagnostics
and life sciences company.
GE Healthcare uses diagnostic imaging, protein separations and
discovery systems to push the boundaries of molecular medicine. Its
business is highly dependent on the large amounts of project information
it needs to store and retrieve.
As the company’s work developed, so too did its storage requirements
but its legacy system was struggling under the load.
Hawke Systems was called in to assess requirements with a view to
increasing data capacity, improving manageability and reducing IT
administration.
GE’s back-up system, too, was of concern. According to Alun John,
Infrastructure Manager, GE Healthcare: “The IT team was working hard to
keep backup at a manageable level, but we got to the point where we were
changing 48 digital linear tapes every week, which was unsustainable.”
To make matters worse, the same system was being used for backup and
for retrieving older files; staff had to wait for backup to end before
retrieval could begin.
Hawke implemented a Nexsan ATABeast disk-to-disk array that was fully
configured with 12TB storage to ensure ample room for future data growth.
Running behind the hardware is Veritas Netbackup for data protection, tape
sharing and non-disruptive backup of mission-critical applications.
This allows users to share and recover files (and drives) across
multiple servers, while media-management features include tape labelling,
tape media pool creation, reporting capabilities and barcode support.
A new HP MSL6000 series tape library was also introduced to provide
centralised backup to a single automated device. The new infrastructure
has given GE Healthcare a more manageable backup-and-restore environment,
and provided workers with better access to critical data.
Hawke Systems are exhibiting at Storage Expo, the UK’s largest data
storage event on 12–13 October.
Source: bjhc&im September 2005
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