Hitachi Data Systems & Xenon Network Services partner to Guarantee Analytical Laboratory's Provision of High Profile Contracts
November 22, 2004-LGC, Europe's leading independent analytical laboratory, headquartered in Teddington, Middlesex, is upgrading its disaster recovery solution following one of its regular reviews of operational efficiency. The solution is being delivered through a partnership of Hitachi Data Systems and Xenon Network Services. Xenon planned and co-ordinated the implementation of the solution based around the Hitachi Thunder 9570™ V Series modular storage system and the Hitachi TrueCopy™ to mirror the data to the secondary location.
IT systems are essential to the data-intensive and time-sensitive nature of LGC's work in providing chemical, biomedical and forensic analysis to high-profile clients such as police forces and a wide range of UK government departments and private sector organisations. LGC's services are designed to help organisations produce high quality data on which to base scientific and commercial decisions. The work includes DNA analyses, paternity testing and BSE testing, as well as various analytical requirements in the food, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, environment and chemical sectors. The business effectively works 24 hours a day, 6 days a week, and thus requires high availability IT systems and applications.
Kevin Morley, Head of IT at LGC, said: "Our clients' requirements are time-sensitive and it is therefore essential for us to have the relevant data to hand when required, so we are looking to eliminate any possible downtime. As an analytical laboratory we cannot reproduce the samples we use, but creating a back-up facility moves us closer towards a failsafe environment to protect the data."
Martyn Jackson, solution architect and project manager at Xenon, said: "The key challenge is to migrate live servers operating 6 x 24 under tight client SLAs, without undue impact to the user base. This is the first major test of Xenon's partnership with Hitachi Data Systems. The project is proving to be a great success and we are looking forward to the next one."
"The type of work conducted by LGC means that data cannot afford to be lost," said Mark Ellery, Business Operations Director at Hitachi Data Systems. "The high-end Thunder 9570 V modular storage system is well-suited to information-intensive industries such as life sciences, healthcare and rich media and matches LGC's needs perfectly. Hitachi TrueCopy uses asynchronous data mirroring to ensure that the data is backed-up at the secondary location, in the same order as it is written at the primary location and without any of the delays often associated with long-distance mirroring."
Hitachi Data Systems leverages global R&D resources to develop storage solutions built on industry-leading technology with the performance, availability and scalability to maximize customers' ROI and minimize their risk. By focusing on the customer's perspective as we apply the best hardware, software, and services from Hitachi and our partners, we uniquely satisfy our customers' business needs.
With 2,900 employees, Hitachi Data Systems conducts business through direct and indirect channels in the public, government and private sectors in over 170 countries and regions. Its customers include more than 50 percent of Fortune 100 companies. For more information, please visit our Web site at www.hds.com.
Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company, with approximately 340,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2002 (ended March 31, 2003) consolidated sales totalled 8,191.7 billion yen ($68.3 billion). The company offers a wide range of systems, products and services in market sectors, including information systems, electronic devices, power and industrial systems, consumer products, materials and financial services. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's Web site at http://www.hitachi.com.
Xenon is one of the UK's leading computer and network services companies specialising in SAN and NAS storage solutions, Enterprise tape backup, Microsoft and Novell clustering solutions. In addition Xenon offers a range of services including hardware and software support. For more information visit www.xenon-uk.co.uk.
LGC (www.lgc.co.uk) is Europe's leading independent analytical laboratory providing advanced chemical, biochemical and forensic analysis, diagnostic services, DNA testing and genetic screening, research, method development, consultancy, training and analytical outsourcing. LGC operates in a diverse range of markets, in both the public and private sectors, including foods, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, environment and chemicals and is the national measurement laboratory for chemical and biochemical analysis. LGC's services are designed to help organisations produce high quality data on which to base scientific and commercial decisions. Reference materials supplied by our market-leading distribution business, LGC Promochem, underpin the quality of measurement in many industrial sectors including pharmaceuticals. LGC Promochem distributes reference standards and ATCC biomaterials throughout Europe and in India. Growing at around 15% per annum and majority-owned by Legal & General Ventures since April 2004, LGC is based in Teddington, Middlesex, with additional laboratory facilities in Runcorn, Cheshire, in Edinburgh, Scotland and in Luckenwalde, Germany. Further offices are located in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden and India.
Patricia Roberts / Chris Gibbs
Lighthouse PR
+44 (0)207 968 4949
hdsuk@lighthousepr.com
© 2004, Hitachi Data Systems Corporation. Hitachi Data Systems is registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark and service mark of Hitachi, Ltd. TagmaStore, Universal Star Network, Services Oriented Storage Solutions, and Radical Efficiency are trademarks of Hitachi Data Systems Corporation. All other trade names, trademarks, and service marks used herein are the rightful property of their respective owners.
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