Client story Biotech Firm Accomplishes International Migration to Cloud

Facts at a glance

Client industry:

Biotechnology

Challenge:

To migrate 100TB+ of sensitive, on-prem data in Europe to a US-based cloud storage solution.

Solution:

A suite of AWS solutions to support migration, storage and security of sensitive data.

Insight provided:

• Consulting services
  • AWS Cloud Foundation
  • AWS Control Tower
  • AWS Snowball
  • AWS EC2, S3 and EFS
• Managed services
  • InsightCloud^® Care

Outcomes:

• Over 100TB migrated to cloud
• 150%+ savings since migration
• Enhanced performance and stability
• Access to cloud tiering capabilities
• Improved scalability and agility
• Established cloud security and compliance best practices

Download the client story

When this large biopharmaceutical firm undergoing divestiture was facing an international migration of sensitive data from on-prem to cloud, it leaned on its existing relationship with Insight.

The vision: Successful migration of sensitive gene therapy solution data

For this gene therapy firm, divestiture from its parent company meant sensitive health and analytics solution data needed to be migrated from its on-premises data center in Germany to a US-based solution. Due to challenges supporting the on-prem system including downtime caused by bad weather and difficulties maintaining legacy hardware, the client sought to migrate to a cloud environment. Unfortunately, a lack of internal expertise proved to be a challenge in getting this project off the ground with internal resources. Having worked with Insight on other projects in the past, the biopharma company felt confident turning to us again to support this new project.

The existing on-prem data center had shown to be incompatible with the needs of this biopharmaceutical company. Given the sensitivity of the data and its work, the firm needed a data storage solution that wouldn’t feel the impacts of unpredictable external factors like weather or reaching server capacity. The stability, scalability and capabilities of the cloud were ultimately what the client needed to stay competitive.

Comprehensive cloud tools from AWS

To meet the needs of this particular client, a comprehensive suite of cloud solutions from AWS was ultimately chosen. First and foremost, the cloud migration needed to be tackled — Insight coordinated the migration of existing on-prem data in Germany to the Munich AWS cloud. Then, an additional migration from AWS Munich to AWS U.S. was completed. To improve and protect the migration process, AWS Snowball was deployed, allowing for a safe transition of offline data to the cloud instance. The transition to cloud also meant a need for relevant security and compliance controls. With AWS Control Tower the client was able to set governance for the cloud environment that is replicable for new or growing instances. Lastly, the client enrolled in InsightCloud Care, a monthly reporting engagement that would allow for frequent cost and performance optimizations of the cloud environment.

The outcome: Smooth cloud transition with cost savings

Ultimately, this migration project unlocked so much more for the client than just supporting its divestiture. Closing the on-premises data center is one aspect of cost savings, but the additional optimizations from a cloud environment are helping save an additional 150% from the initial migration. Additionally, with the on-prem data center offloaded, the hardware and tech debt concerns it presented were eliminated. As with any cloud environment, scalability will help the client respond to the changing needs of the enterprise more quickly. Security and compliance are also streamlined with the help of the governance system that has been established with the help of Insight and will be easily repeatable as the client’s cloud presence grows. With the success of this project, this biopharma firm is set up for high-performance computing and plans to leverage these capabilities to enhance its operations.

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