Clinique de La Source, Lausanne CH (EN)

Clinique de La Source was facing a reorganization of its data storage and backup strategy. The backup sets of the newly deployed Rubrik backup appliance had to be replicated to a second, independent system. In addition, the PACS data needed to be archived in a compliant manner. Together with system integrator Eurebis AG, they decided for the Silent Brick system as the target storage for replication and as WORM storage for compliant archiving of patient data.

“The flexible scalability of the Silent Brick system convinced us.”
Etienne Marchand, Head of IT, Clinique de La Source, Lausanne (Switzerland)

Long-term Backup and Compliant Archiving in a Single System:

Clinique de La Source in Lausanne (Switzerland) trusts FAST LTA for Complete Data Protection

Clinique de La Source, Lausanne, is one of the most renowned hospitals in Switzerland. Founded in 1891, it is owned by the La Source Foundation, an independent and private non-profit foundation. Since its inception, its goal has been to continuously invest in advanced technologies and healing methods – always striving to maintain the highest level throughout the care process, with which the hospital became well renowned since more than 130 years. That is why it has a modern IT infrastructure that keeps all important data digitized. The always increasing volumes of data must safely be backed up and kept available. Audit-compliant archiving of patient data also plays an important role. When switching to a new backup and archiving strategy, the team decided to use the Silent Brick System from FAST LTA, which was introduced together with the Swiss IT specialist distributor and system integrator Eurebis AG.

Challenges

1. Conversion of the backup solution
2. Archiving of full backup sets
3. Audit-compliant archiving of PACS data

New technologies have always been the basis for Clinique de La Source to improve its treatment and care activities. So, it is obvious that the company also stays up to date in the area of IT. Modern PACS solutions such as Visus JiveX for documentation and laboratory data, and Telemis for radiology and oncology data, support the clinic’s staff in their work for their patients. And the amount of data has grown in recent years as new generations of equipment offer higher resolution and increased data processing throughput. Regular backups are standard practice. But Etienne Marchand, head of the IT department at Clinique de La Source since 2010, and his seven colleagues were increasingly coming to the limits of the previous solution. The existing backup storage was too inflexible and could not be expanded easily. In addition, they were interested in a backup appliance solution from Rubrik. Furthermore, the PACS data needed to be backed up to WORM storage in a compliant manner to meet all compliance-relevant standards. Together with the system integrator Eurebis AG and its system engineer Daniel Tessié, the IT team developed a new data backup strategy in 2020 that should last for the coming years.

New backup strategy for a broad architecture

The IT infrastructure of Clinique de La Source has three data centers, one is located in the clinic itself and another in a separate building and section. In addition, it relies on an off-site one that is housed in a separate data center. Almost all applications are provided virtualized on Nutanix hypervisor. Nutanix file storage is used as data storage, gradually replacing the previous storage solution. Primarily, patient data and all radiological data generated by the PACS systems are stored here. But the various databases of the clinic are also stored on this data system.

Replication of Rubrik backup data to Silent Bricks

Etienne Marchand and his colleagues chose Rubrik’s backup appliance solution because it met their backup software and storage requirements and could be easily integrated into the Nutanix infrastructure. However, the storage solution to which the backup data was previously sent could not be easily expanded as data volumes increased rapidly. Based on Eurebis’ recommendation, they selected FAST LTA’s Silent Brick system for replication because it is highly configurable and easily expandable at any time. Eurebis has already implemented several storage projects at Clinique de La Source and is a partner and distributor of FAST LTA in Switzerland. In total, the storage experts have implemented around 300 installations, mainly in the healthcare sector and for industrial enterprises.

The Silent Brick system implements the solution and media break for a secure backup strategy. Daily incremental backups of clinic data are stored locally on the Rubrik appliance. After 30 days, the full backup sets are replicated to the Silent Bricks and archived.“The Silent Brick system has been working together excellently with the Rubrik appliance from the start.” says Etienne Marchand. Thanks to its flexible extensibility and the easily removable Silent Bricks, it can be used to securely store backups.“We were also impressed by the flexible expandability of the Silent Brick system.” adds Etienne Marchand.

PACS data audit-compliant on Silent Brick WORM

The second area of use of the Silent Brick System was the radiology department. The data generated there is stored together with the patient data in the Visus JiveX PACS. Correspondence on paper is scanned and integrated into JiveX, as well. In parallel, all files from imaging procedures are stored in the Telemis PACS archive. After 30 days, they are deleted from JiveX and archived only via Telemis so that the data is not kept twice. Etienne Marchand and his colleagues are also relying on FAST LTA after project planning with Eurebis. This is because the Silent Brick system can also be equipped with WORM-sealed Silent Bricks, which enable unerasable and compliant data archiving. “The solution is very transparent for us. We have obtained enough storage capacity for the next 5 years,” delighted Etienne Marchand says. A total of almost 80 terabytes of data can currently be archived in an audit-compliant manner – with a rising tendency.

Implementation

1. Replication on the Silent Brick System
2. Archiving on Silent Brick WORM
3. Easily expandable at any time

Daniel Tessié from Eurebis says: “The Silent Brick System convinced Clinique de La Source because you can physically remove each individual Silent Brick (Air Gap, protection against ransomware). In addition, different formats, such as WORM, but also NAS, as well as different storage media can be used in one system. Our customers were impressed by the philosophy behind it right from the start. ” Data amounts are increasing from year to year. New systems are added that also generate large amounts of data that need to be secured. The flexible options offered by FAST LTA make Clinique de La Source and Etienne Marchand confidently looking into the future.

About Clinique de La Source

Clinique de La Source, Lausanne, is one of the best-renowned private hospitals in Switzerland. It is part of a non-profit foundation of the same name, which also includes the Institut et Haute École de Santé La Source (HES – SO). In 1891, the La Source foundation established a nursing facility that would provide practical fields of application for the students of its own nursing school. This was the origin of Clinique de La Source. Innovations in nursing and modern healing procedures have been the main driving force since the beginning. Today, the clinic includes several specialized services, including Emergency Center, Internal Medicine, General Surgery, Oncology, Neurosurgery, Intensive Care, Cardiology, Urology, Obstetrics and Gynecology. 566 specialists serve more than 100,000 patients each year. Nearly 14,000 surgical procedures are conducted in 7 operation rooms, and nearly 400 babies are born at Clinique de La Source.

Outcomes

• Eurebis and FAST LTA helped best with the changeover to the new system
• The data infrastructure can grow without difficulties
• Silent Brick WORM are a future-proof solution for PACS archiving

Solution

• 2x Silent Brick Controller G5000
• 12x 24/16 TB Silent Bricks as SecureNAS
• 8x 24/16TB Silent Brick WORM
• 2x 3/2 TB Silent Brick Flash as Stage Volumes for the WORM Archive

Industry

• Healthcare / hospital

Applications

• Rubrik Backup Appliance
• Visus JiveX enterprise PACS
• Telemis PACS Archive

Partner

• Eurebis AG