Institute of Molecular Immunology and Experimental Oncology Opts for Qnap NAS

Background
The Institute of Molecular Immunology and Experimental Oncology (IMI) is located in the main campus of the School of Medicine at the Rechts der Isar Hospital – located at The Technical University of Munich.

The institute focuses on the clinically relevant questions of how immune responses are controlled by local regulatory cues. It aims to achieve the translation of basic science discoveries into applications useful in gene therapy of regenerative medicine and immune intervention in chronic diseases as well as in disease prevention. It pursues research goals by deploying advanced flow cytometry, fluorescent microscopy, and data-driven omics techniques.

Challenge
Generating large amounts of data with state-of-the-art flow cytometry and microscopy, IMI require a reliable storage which allows them to perform data analysis and further processing. Speed, ease-of-use, and secure cross-platform accessibility was also required as researchers use various devices, including macOS and Windows. Backup solutions must be user-friendly and accessible to non-IT professionals.

Solution
After researching available options, IMI decided to deploy the TS-1685 and the TS-453BT3. The TS-1685 was installed in a fluorescence microscopy lab with twelve 12TB IronWolf HDDs installed in a RAID-5 configuration. It also used Time Machine to backup data from numerous Macs to the TS-453BT3 and replaced an old Time Capsule for higher storage capacity and improved performance.

Result
QTS (the Qnap NAS OS) allows IMI to set up all required tasks with little difficulty. The TS-1685 stores up to 6 months of data on-site for daily analysis and reevaluation, enabling IMI to keep up with ever-evolving research.

The built-in dual 10GbE ports enable fast data acquisition, and workstations can minimize data transfer times while maintaining writing speeds over 600MB/s. The TS-453BT3 accommodates Time Machine backup data, and also acts as a central data hub for flow cytometry data between different acquisition and analysis machines. By removing the need for intermediate USB storage devices, IMI’s storage solution is more secure vs. potential malware infection. IMI is convinced that Qnap NAS is a future-proof solution, as they can expand the storage space just by swapping to larger drives, and are happy that their sensitive data is safely stored to an on-premises file server.