Major performance improvements for Pisa's research

The University of Pisa, one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious universities, has selected Dell Technologies storage, including Dell EMC PowerStore, to accelerate its infrastructure modernization efforts in the face of changing remote learning and research demands.

 

“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,” said Maurizio Davini, CTO, University of Pisa. “Dell EMC PowerStore is at the center of our IT modernization 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.”

 

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 realize 3x capacity savings when compared to its previous storage infrastructure. PowerStore’s AppsON capability, which allows storage administrators to run application 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.

 

“Performance and availability are key for institutions like The University of Pisa that pursue critical medical and biological research,” said Jeff Boudreau, president and general manager, Infrastructure Solutions Group at Dell Technologies. “With the latest Dell Technologies storage systems, students and faculty have immediate access to the data and applications that drive meaningful research forward, even as Pisa has instituted remote learning.” 

 

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 expects its total amount of unstructured data to double within a year.

 

The University of Pisa also benefits from working with Dell Technologies and its broad set of easily implemented and integrated solutions across its environment, including servers, workstations, desktops, laptops and more.