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GenoLogics Swaps File Server for Synology; Improves Productivity, Saves Money

Informatics Solutions for Translational Research

	About Company
	Company Name: GenoLogics	Models Used: DiskStation DS509+ DX5 (view all models)
	Why GenoLogics Chose Synology: Scalability Reliability Multi-Platform Support Disk Customization Depth of Feature Set Automated Backup
1 of the 2 pairs of DS509+ and DX5 GenoLogics has deployed.

The Company

GenoLogics, founded in 2001, provides discovery and biomedical solutions that can be implemented across multiple labs and support translational medicine and systems biology initiatives. Their vision is to catalyze life sciences research with a collaborative data management software platform, advancing the early detection, prevention, and treatment of disease.

The Challenge

As a software development company, reliable data storage is essential to the livelihood of GenoLogics. Cliff McCollum, Software Development Manager at GenoLogics could no longer trust his aging file server with the company’s data. "Our MS server had started failing sporadically," he said.

In addition to a reliable, powerful storage solution, Cliff needed to reduce costs and spend less time maintaining the system. "We needed a new file server capacity and didn’t want the licensing costs and additional management overhead of a Linux or Windows server."

The Solution

GenoLogics had been running a Synology DS508 for miscellaneous storage purposes for a few months and, “it had been flawless,” said Cliff. The decision to integrate Synology in a larger role on their network was an easy one.

Scalability

Citing the expansion options of Synology DiskStations, Cliff bought two DS509+’s and two DX5 expansion enclosures. He populated each of the DS509+’s with five 1TB hard drives and each of the DX5’s with five 750GB drives for a total capacity of 17 TB of storage volume. While this more than meets the office’s current needs, when more storage is inevitably required as the company grows, Cliff has the ability to upgrade 40 TB of space without purchasing additional hardware.

"The DS509+ let us add the DX5 expansion and automatically backup to a second NAS very easily," Cliff said. Configured to automatically duplicate from one set ofDS509+ and DX5 to the other for additional data security, GenoLogics’ data is protected against individual computer, drive, and system failure.

Privatization

Providing privatized data storage on multiple levels is easy with Synology; Cliff had every user’s My Documents folder moved to the Synology DiskStations and setup departmental shares only accessible by members of that specific division. This process can be automated as GenoLogics grows with the User Home feature, standard with DiskStation Manager 2.2, as new users will have a private folder automatically created when their user account is added.

Cost Savings

Migration from their MS server to Synology DiskStations not only saved time, but money for GenoLogics. "We have over 75 employees, which would have cost upward of $10,000 in licensing fees," Cliff said. Each of the company’s DS509+ support over 2,000 users, erasing Client Access License fees from GenoLogics budget for good.

Backup and file sharing are not the only features of their DiskStations GenoLogics utilizes. Technical writers host technical support documents using Web Station, the integrated iTunes server streams the shared music collection on the network, and even Photo Station has become a handy place to post and share photos from company events.

Customer Benefits

Providing such a broad array of services makes the Synology DiskStations essential to productivity for GenoLogics. Less maintenance and automated tasksreduce downtime for IT staff and users can confidently store and backup their data. While providing the features and performance McCollum demands in their day-to-day operation, Synology DiskStations offers the affordability and flexibility to grow with GenoLogics into the future.