Kyoto University implements Isilon IQ for eliminating storage issues in diagnostic imaging research

Jan 27 2010

Isilon® Systems (Nasdaq: ISLN) today announced that Kyoto University's Department of Diagnostic Imaging and Nuclear Medicine has implemented Isilon's scale-out NAS for a new collaboration project focused on identifying new technologies and enhanced functionality in diagnostic imaging. With Isilon IQ, the Department has unified ultrasonic tomography, retinal tomography and MRI image data into a single, highly scalable, high performance, shared pool of storage to accelerate time-to-results for its mission-critical research.

All medical imaging taken at Kyoto University Hospital is centrally managed in a work system called a Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) and is stored for five years as is legally mandated. An enormous amount of image data used in clinical studies must be stored because verification data from all cases is analyzed and researched separately from the PACS.

"Prior to implementing Isilon IQ, we gathered the clinical studies' imaging data from the PACS and managed it on traditional NAS. The problem with traditional NAS is that there are inevitable management challenges and breakdowns," said Yutaka Emoto, professor of medicine, Kyoto University Hospital. "During breakdowns or expansion, maintenance was troublesome, forcing our valuable researchers to essentially act as server managers. With Isilon, there are no problems and everything works as advertised, enabling our researchers to actually focus on research."

Kyoto University's Department of Diagnostic Imaging and Nuclear Medicine conducts a wide range of research into disciplines as varied as nuclear medicine, positron emission tomography (PET), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and device development. Using Isilon IQ, the Department has been able to unify all of its imaging data into a single file system and single volume, increasing efficiency throughout the research process and enabling its researchers to do more in less time. Additionally, with Isilon's seamless, on-demand scaling of performance and capacity, the department can grow its storage without any system downtime, ensuring all research data is available and accessible 24x7x365.  

"Continued innovation in diagnostic imaging equipment has rapidly increased the amount of imaging data produced during the course of medical research and treatment, creating significant challenges for traditional SAN and NAS systems," said Tim Goodwin, VP and general manager of Japan, Isilon Systems. "However, Isilon's scale-out NAS solutions were designed specifically to effectively and reliably manage large quantities of file-based data, ensuring users can maximize the value of their information. Kyoto University's use of Isilon for their diagnostic imaging research is another example of how our products eliminate storage headaches and enable our customers to focus on their work."