By Emily Allender / 26 Nov 2018 / Topics: Data center
Facts at a glance
Client industry:
Healthcare
Size of company:
48 hospitals, 48,000 employees
Challenge:
After a large merger, the client needed to modernize its data infrastructure and integrate its systems while ensuring uninterrupted data access during the transition.
Solution:
- 12 Pure Storage flash arrays
- Project management and data migration services
- Risk-mitigated transfer of data from Dell EMC Centera to Isilon systems
Results
- 178 million files (850TB) migrated without incident
- Reduced space, energy and maintenance costs
- 8 racks of storage reduced to half a rack
- Savings of $15 million over 3 years
Solution area:
Insight’s Cloud + Data Center Transformation solutions help clients improve data center availability, performance and efficiency.
Integrating data systems within a single organization can be difficult. Integrating them within a combined organization is even more challenging.
After a major healthcare provider merged with another large provider, it needed to upgrade its existing data infrastructure and ensure smooth systems integration — without interruption to data access. For help, the organization turned to Insight.
Specifically, the client needed assistance integrating existing storage systems, as well as standardizing and enhancing its IT infrastructure. As part of that process, the organization’s data systems needed to be modernized, and 850TB of medical image data had to be migrated from Dell EMC Centera to Isilon systems.
Because the 178 million files stored on existing systems were integral to patient care, the transition required zero interruption to data access. In addition, all modernization efforts had to meet strict requirements defined by Epic Systems, the client’s Electronic Medical Record (EMR) database.
Insight’s Cloud + Data Center Transformation team developed a comprehensive, step-by-step strategy for both the storage refresh and the data migration.
In the process of identifying and prioritizing the organization’s files and apps for migration, we uncovered data the client didn’t know about, stored on nodes that weren’t functioning properly. We migrated that data, along with the data the client did know about, to a system of one dozen Pure Storage flash arrays capable of accommodating more than a petabyte of storage.
The flash arrays can also be upgraded to meet future needs without interrupting operations.
The detailed planning and white-glove service Insight provided throughout the data center transition were key to the project’s success. Altogether, the upgrade reduced eight racks of equipment down to just half a rack. We also provided attentive project management to ensure timely execution and completion of each step of the project — without disrupting data access.
The resulting cutting-edge data environment supports high-quality patient care. The new IT systems will deliver $15 million in savings over three years through competitive procurement pricing — and the reduced space, energy and maintenance costs of the Pure Storage Evergreen Storage model.
In addition, the risk-mitigated, zero-downtime data migration and upgraded storage efficiency have produced one more powerful, intangible benefit for the client: The organization gained a trusted partner with the ability to understand and address its unique needs and deliver successful outcomes.
