The University of Pisa is using Dell EMC PowerStore, to accelerate its infrastructure modernisation efforts in the face of changing remote learning and research demands.
Maurizio Davini, CTO, University of Pisa: ‘As we transitioned to remote learning, we needed reliable, scalable technology to provide our 53,000 students and faculty with quick, easy access to critical data and applications at all times, from any location.’
The university adopted Dell EMC PowerMax and experienced up to 5 times faster data processing and 80 per cent better performance for its essential applications, accelerating application and data access
‘Dell EMC PowerStore is at the centre of our IT modernisation efforts because it delivers the high performance and availability needed to support leading-edge teaching and research without any downtime or data loss. It’s a game-changer,’ Davini continued.
The university uses Dell EMC PowerStore to store scientific computing applications for genomics and biology, plus chemistry, physics and engineering. PowerStore’s NVMe-based, adaptable design delivered a 6x performance improvement on previous storage infrastructure, making applications faster and easier to access. PowerStore’s deduplication and compression capabilities also have allowed the university to realise a 300 per cent increase in capacity savings when compared to its previous storage infrastructure. PowerStore’s AppsON capability, which allows storage administrators to run applications directly on the storage array, has greatly simplified application and data mobility throughout its four data centers spread across the city.
During 2020, Dell Technologies boosted the University’s all-flash storage capabilities, allowing it to support nearby Santa Chiara Hospital’s COVID-19 research while also supporting an AI-based chemistry research project and a multi-cloud shared service for administrative agencies, hospitals and cities in Tuscany.
Jeff Boudreau, president and general manager, Infrastructure Solutions Group at Dell Technologies states: ‘Performance and availability are key for institutions like The University of Pisa that pursue critical medical and biological research.’
The university’s storage infrastructure also includes a Dell EMC PowerMax storage array to support VDI and remote workstations and database workloads. With PowerMax, the university has experienced 5x faster data processing and 80% better performance for its essential applications, allowing them to access key research and applications faster than before.
In order to support demanding artificial intelligence (AI) and bare-metal high performance computing (HPC) workloads, The University of Pisa also uses Dell EMC PowerScale all-flash storage. PowerScale’s scalability and flexibility are important as the university expect its total amount of unstructured data to double within a year.
