Research institutes are in the business of research, not managing infrastructure. They need ready access to all of their data, the ability to share results with other researchers, and confidence that their valuable information is protected. Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion (VTC) faced file data management challenges that the institute’s legacy system couldn’t handle.
The institute’s research areas include biomaterials, body device interfaces, brain research, cancer, cardiovascular science, infectious diseases and immunity, metabolism and obesity, addiction recovery, and children’s health.
“Data is the currency and lifeblood of scientific research. We needed to respond to the concerns of exponential data growth, how to store and present data in an intuitive and non-intrusive way, and how to manage and protect stored data without impacting daily operations.”
Jason Krisch, Director of IT, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC
Focusing on biomedical research access and protection
Fralin Biomedical Research Institute’s legacy environment was a proprietary block storage system that had only 250TB of capacity. The team had to use quotas and off-load data to external data silos to create space for active workloads and in-flight scientific projects. Data was stored in multiple systems, some planned and some not. Windows workstations, Linux machines, and Macs complicated data movement and sharing, while backup and archival data were stored in tape libraries and nearline disk.
While the institute never experienced any data loss, data protection was a constant concern and was consuming a lot of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute’s staff time. So was the issue of business continuity: it was impossible to capture the rapid point-in-time changes common in the environment.
Fralin Biomedical Research Institute needed a centralized data system that provided access to all its different platforms and optimized storage for a wide variety of unstructured data. Qumulo helped Fralin Biomedical Research Institute eliminate data silos and accelerate performance with a file data platform that is simple to manage and provides the flexibility they need in a protected environment.
“Our scientific findings are priceless, and our data is irreplaceable. With Qumulo, I know it’s fully protected.”
Jason Krisch, Director of IT, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC
Read the full case study to understand how Fralin Biomedical Research Institute uses Qumulo’s file data platform to move data quickly within the data center, between remote data centers, and in the cloud to securely share data at high speeds across cloud services.
“The FBRI will continue working with human health. We’ll go deeper into genomics and complex imaging. We’re adding more functional magnetic resonance imaging, CT scanners, and PET scanners into the new facility. This expansion translates into more data, more analytics, and more processing. We can confidently do all that on Qumulo.”
Jason Krisch, Director of IT, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC
Fast, reliable image access
Seconds matter in patient care. Using the Qumulo File Data Platform, healthcare providers can easily unify the storage of imaging and clinical data. Clinicians and technicians—located on-premises or remotely—get extremely fast access with the speed of flash to accelerate patient workflows and diagnoses. By eliminating the need for a separate all-flash cache, Qumulo helps lower the total cost of ownership (TCO) of PACS / VNA medical imaging systems over the short and long term.
This post has been updated.
Learn more
Seconds Matter – Accelerating Analysis with Next-Gen PACS / VNA Imaging Systems
FBRI’s IT Upgrades Speed Data Analysis, Lay Foundation for 2x Research Capacity
Qumulo’s Healthcare Solutions for Clinical Imaging and PACs / VNA Data Management
