Baylor College of Medicine Prescribes Pillar

Pillar Data Systems announced that the Human Neuroimaging Laboratory at Baylor College of Medicine selected the Pillar Axiom(TM) Storage System to increase application performance and overall storage efficiency in its data center. The Human Neuroimaging Laboratory (HNL) at Baylor College of Medicine needed a cost-effective solution to support the countless number of digital scanning images for its five MRI scanners and manage its extensive research, including world-renowned autism studies. The IT team selected Pillar for its unsurpassed price/performance ratio and storage efficiency.

The HNL at Baylor College of Medicine is a large research laboratory that runs its own IT infrastructure to conduct brain imaging, theoretical neuroscience and behavioral research. The department’s MRI scanners are devoted entirely to educational research, individual and group neurological studies. Recent research released from Baylor has included ongoing autism studies that seek to diagnose, treat and assess the disorder from observed symptoms, brain function and ultimately genetic standpoint.

"The research projects and studies conducted by our department generate an exorbitant amount of data from our MRI scanners, which require high performance and reliability. We looked at several other vendors and they didn’t compare to the high performance and utilization rates from Pillar," said Justin King, senior system administrator, HNL at Baylor College of Medicine. "We were looking for a solution that combined density, speed and ease of management. Pillar is one of the only companies that is able to accomplish that combination."

The average research subject generates approximately 300 megabytes of data during an interview or scan, but the HNL runs up to 15 scans a day, generating approximately 20 gigabytes of images on a daily basis. As the data center mushroomed in growth, the department decided to deploy the Pillar Axiom to increase its storage utilization rates and fine tune the performance ratio. As a result, the HNL has seen returns through increased efficiency by allowing staff to analyze the resulting research data of 100 subjects in two hours, where previously it took 10 hours to analyze 10 subjects.

Originally, the HNL was evaluating products from both EMC and IBM, but TEQSYS, Inc., a Pillar Data reseller partner, recommended the Pillar Axiom for its ease of use and industry leading utilization rates. "TEQSYS, Inc. specializes in finding the perfect combined solution for each customer, and Pillar was the exact fit for Baylor’s needs," said Chuck Galvan, Houston – Regional Manager of TEQSYS, Inc. "In using the Axiom, the Human Neuroimaging Laboratory has already increased its usable disk capacity by 60 terabytes, which emphasizes the benefit achieved from Pillar’s industry-leading high disk capacity."

"Baylor College of Medicine has a unique story to tell. They needed a simple, reliable solution that delivered exceptional performance and efficiency for a constantly changing data center environment," said Bob Maness, vice president of marketing, Pillar Data Systems. "Pillar stepped in to offer a sleek, yet simple solution that delivers the performance, scalability and ease of management the lab requires."