Fondazione Toscana Gabriele Monasterio Acquires Spectra Logic LTO Library

Fondazione Toscana Gabriele Monasterio, a
specialist cardiopulmonary health foundation in Italy, has selected Spectra Logic Corporation to upgrade
its LTO tape storage.

Paolo Marcheschi, director of IT at Fondazione Toscana Gabriele Monasterio,
oversees all IT activities for the Italian Foundation, managing the backup
infrastructure for its staff of 500 and including backup of its growing 100TB
of research and patient data generated by its two hospitals, which are based 60km apart in Pisa and Massa.

The Foundation made a decision to increase its storage capacity so that it can
efficiently store the many kinds of DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications
in Medicine) images from diagnostic acquisition modalities and laboratory
tests, needed for its patients and research. Local law requires that the
hospitals store patients records for ten years but as a research facility, the
Foundation keeps them for much longer.

The existing IT system comprised an Oracle server with QStar Archive Manager
HSM software to manage the files stored in the library. Due to the many TB’s of
data health practitioners and researchers need to share at any one time, the
Foundation has six servers supporting this system.

The criteria for the new LTO tape-based file storage system were determined on
functionality and available resources. Hospital staff requires access to
customer data 24/7 so reliability was key as well as security for data
protection purposes but as a small organisation with limited funding and just
two IT administrators cost and ease to operate and maintain were also
fundamental factors. Paolo looked at several options and chose the Spectra
Logic T50e which combines LTO tape technology, library management
functionality as well as increased security through integrated BlueScale encryption at a price within his budget.

The installation was achieved within the Foundation’s three month deadline and
since implementation Paolo and his team are finding that the T50e is achieving
on all objectives.

He said: "All the data is sent for
pick-up by the T50e through one server and we don’t have to do much, it’s
working well. At the moment we have about 48TB stored on the T50e but the
Foundation has plans to link its two hospitals by FC over the next few months
which will see that capacity increase as we mirror backup at both locations."

The T50e has been designed for organisations that need minimum downtime but
have little time for maintenance operations as it self-monitors its media, drives,
power supplies, controller and robotics, alerting administrators when they need
attention.

Brian Grainger, Spectra Logic’s SVP of WW sales, added: "The T50e is an economical archive solution
that scales up to an impressive 5.8TB/hr throughput and 313TB of compressed
capacity with best in class features that make it easy to use and maintain. In
addition it is compatible with all major Active Archive software offerings, OSs
and platforms, making it a clear winner for organisations wanting to consolidate
and expand their backup systems."