Case Study: Genomics England scales genomic data storage with Quantum ActiveScale

Genomics England cuts storage costs by 75% with Quantum

Genomics England, established by the UK’s Department of Health & Social Care, faced a significant challenge when its existing network-attached storage solution reached its scaling limit. The organization needed a much more scalable infrastructure to store petabytes of genomic data and facilitate flexible access for thousands of researchers worldwide. They engaged vendor Quantum to implement a new solution using the Quantum ActiveScale object storage system.

The solution implemented by Quantum created a scalable, two-tier storage architecture with ActiveScale serving as a long-term data lake. This provided the agility to take on urgent COVID-19 genome sequencing work and allowed for seamless expansion from 40 PB to over 100 PB. Quantum's technology enhanced data resiliency with geo-distribution across three data centers and significantly reduced costs, with storage costs per genome decreasing by 75% and expected to reach a 96% reduction.

Genomics England