Data Infrastructure
Genomics England
Improving Storage While Reducing Costs
Genomics England
- Industry: Hospital and Health Care
- Size: 501 – 1000 Employees
- Annual Revenue: £50 Mn
Solution
- Conduct a stakeholder review
- Recommend tailored storage solutions
- Implement solution across data centres
- Oversee expansion to 100PB
Challenge
- Storing 140 PB of Data Securely
- Accessing Data Immediately
- Limiting Storage Capacity
- Recovering from Disasters in Real-Time
Results
- Expanded storage drastically improving efficiency
- Lowered costs significantly
- Enabled efficient cloud-based use
- Revolutionised data management strategies
About Genomics England
Genomics England Ltd. is owned by the UK Department of Health and Social Care. It was founded to help further medical research and improve patients’ lives, by sequencing 100,000 genomes of National Health Service (NHS) volunteer patients and making the resulting data available to 3,000+ researchers worldwide.
Its research environment enables discoveries to enhance patient lives, positioning Genomics England at the forefront of genomic healthcare and research.
The Challenge
After sequencing 100,000 genomes and generating 21 PB of data, Genomics England had to transform this into a continuous, large-scale service for the NHS. They faced the challenge of securely storing an expected 140 PB of data, ensuring immediate access for bioinformaticians and researchers who needed to access the dataset in varied ways.
The 100,000 Genome Project used a scale-out NAS solution to manage this. But by the end of the project, the system hit its storage capacity, leading to slower performance at near full capacity. Also, achieving near real-time disaster recovery was difficult with traditional methods, as making 21 petabytes of data quickly available was not practical. In summary, they needed:
- A scalable storage solution with 10X growth potential and disaster recovery
- Enhanced data processing efficiency and near real-time data access
- Cloud integration and hybrid cloud strategy support with cost reduction
Genomics England were looking for a partner who could provide them with:
- A scalable storage solution with 10X growth potential and disaster recovery
- Enhanced data processing efficiency and near real-time data access
- Cloud integration and hybrid cloud strategy support with cost reduction
The Nephos Solution
Nephos was engaged by Genomics England to devise a storage strategy supporting five years of growth, conducting a 6-month comprehensive review with key stakeholders, including the CIO and CTO, among others.
This process involved understanding their technical and commercial objectives, allowing for a holistic strategy development. Through a tailored market evaluation, leveraging industry knowledge, our team recommended Flash + Object storage after a thorough technology review, aligning with Genomics England’s needs. The solution, deployed across 3 data centres, offered significant storage efficiency and cost benefits, introducing an innovative disaster recovery strategy.
Beyond the recommendation, our team also provided end-to-end professional services from architectural design to migration, and has since managed the scaling of the storage and networking platform from 22PB to over 100PB, ensuring 24/7 functionality.
”For the next phase of this project, we needed something much more scalable – an infrastructure that could grow to hundreds of petabytes. Our existing solution couldn’t.
David ArdleyDirector of Technology
The Results
The implementation of the recommended storage solution transformed Genomics England’s data management capabilities.
- Scaling for the Future: The architecture upgrade at Genomics England expanded storage from 22PB to over 100PB, drastically improving efficiency and cutting costs. This prepares us for future data demands, ensuring scalability.
- Seamless Cloud Integration: Our strategy now allows for efficient use of cloud-based applications, aligning with the goal of full cloud integration. This move revolutionises data management and supports effective cloud-based workflows.
- Future-Proofing Data Storage: By adopting a new storage solution and embracing cloud integration, Genomics England is ready for the future of data storage, processing, and accessibility, ensuring they stay at the forefront of genomics research.
