University of Connecticut Health Center Chooses Amplidata’s Himalaya for Expanding Medical Data

MILPITAS, CA, UNITED STATES - Mar 2, 2015 - Amplidata, the leader in object-based software defined storage, today announced that UConn Health has purchased and installed a storage system based on Amplidata’s Himalaya object-based, software-defined storage software.

UConn Health has used high performance, and high cost, NAS storage for its expanding data storage needs, moving from its first HPC cluster in 1998 to a server room and then to a dedicated HPC data center by 2010, but found its needs continuing to grow beyond what was feasible at the cost of expanding NAS implementations. It has turned to a scalable, reliable and cost effective Himalaya-based object storage systems that not only meets UConn Health’s growing needs, but those of the University of Connecticut at large.

“Our big data-ready solution provides a flexible path for organizations heavily invested in legacy NAS that extends that investment while accommodating their geometric data growth,” said Michael Wall, Amplidata CEO. “The Himalaya-based next generation NAS solution is perfect for organizations like UConn Health that need to maintain their applications designed for NAS, but need a cost effective way to quickly scale on line storage.”

“We had the typical big data problem - the exponential growth of data - and we were looking for a reliable, scalable and cost effective solution for the long term,” said Associate Professor of Cell Biology and director of the high performance computing facility for UConn Health, Ion Moraru, “We were an all-NAS storage facility and that was not a sustainable model. We implemented Amplidata’s solution on a small scale and we decided to expand it well beyond the original scope. It’s now a global solution for data storage beyond UConn Health to be a resource UConn-wide. It’s an answer to the big data challenge at UConn.”

UConn Health plans to keep its legacy storage system at 90 percent capacity and continue to move any additional data to the Himalaya system. The Himalaya implementation started with five storage nodes, and has scaled quickly to accommodate increasing data needs, now at more than six-fold the original total system capacity. Moraru expects storage needs to continue doubling every year.

Criteria that led to UConn Health’s decision to chose Amplidata’s solution included the company’s unique use of erasure codes to provide a high level of data durability with low hardware overhead, its automated geographic distribution of data, the ability to add storage in increments as small as one storage node at a time, the cost effectiveness of the solution and access to technical information and staff.

“It’s a hybrid cloud/NAS solution that’s very powerful in terms of cost effectiveness, scaling and collaboration,” added Moraru.

About Himalaya

With Himalaya, users can easily store and manage zettabytes of data and trillions of stored objects, all under one global namespace using Intel-based commercial off the shelf hardware. It supports multi-tenancy, heterogeneous SLAs, as well as non-disruptive changes in storage configuration and allocation. Himalaya’s patented, advanced erasure code and data integrity and repair technology dramatically reduce required capacity and operational overhead. Further, it provides greater than 15 nines of data durability, which is essential at this massive scale.

Himalaya’s massive scalability, security, and unbreakable data durability address the storage needs of cloud services, life sciences, media & entertainment, oil & gas, video surveillance, government and Fortune 500 enterprises, among others.

About UConn Health

UConn Health is a vibrant, integrated academic medical center that is entering an era of unprecedented growth in all three areas of its mission: academics, research, and clinical care.

Based in Farmington, Connecticut - a popular suburb of the state’s capitol of Hartford - UConn Health is home to the School of Medicine, School of Dental Medicine, John Dempsey Hospital, UConn Medical Group, UConn Health Partners, University Dentists and a thriving research enterprise.

With approximately 5,000 employees, UConn Health is a major economic driver in the region, generating nearly $1 billion annually in gross state product. It is closely linked with the University of Connecticut’s main campus in Storrs through multiple, cross-campus academic projects.

About Amplidata

Founded in 2008, Amplidata offers software for object-based software defined storage for enterprises, service providers and OEMs. Patented BitSpread®, BitDynamics®, and GeoSpread technologies offers unbreakable durability at greater than 15 nines, zettabyte scalability and operating efficiency at a significantly lower cost than traditional systems. Named a “Cool Storage Company” in 2012, Amplidata is privately funded by Intel Capital*, Quantum*, Swisscom Ventures*, Endeavour Vision*, and Hummingbird Ventures*. The company’s US headquarters is in Milpitas, California with European headquarters in Lochristi, Belgium. Sales and support are worldwide. To learn more visit www.amplidata.com.

AmpliStor, BitSpread and BitDynamics are registered trademarks of Amplidata.

* Other names and brands are the property of their respective owners.