Industry-specific archiving requirements

Data growth and the digital patient file

Hospitals work daily with sensitive patient data. Therefore, a reliable, safe, and efficient long-term archive is necessary for the medical treatment of patients and for the smooth running of processes. This involves large amounts of data. IDC forecasts the highest data growth for any sector is healthcare: plus 36 % until 2025.5.

Even the data volumes of the Karlsruhe City Hospital are rapidly growing, caused by radiological imaging techniques in particular. “The current database amounts to approx. 260 terabytes. The calculated growth rate was originally set at 20% per year. However, due to the many projects that have now started within the frame work of KHSF II and KHZG, enormous additional amounts of storage space are being added. Imaging procedures are a big driver here.” explains Andreas Gürth, Team Leader of IT Infrastructure at the hospital, with regard to the enormous data growth. The audit-proof archiving of those and other data which have to be saved are placing the highest demands on storage performance and scalability. The hospital is equipped for a data explosion with the implemented archiving solution, and is able to scale easily and flexibly.

In a medical environment, data - which contain mostly personal data - have to be archived and available over long periods of time. In doing so, hospitals have to comply with strict conditions and legal requirements. The use of future-proof and flexible solutions for archiving digital patient files, radiographs, and diagnostics, as well as invoices, e-mails, and documents, will simplify this task.

The Goethe University Hospital Frankfurt (KGU) faced the challenges of archiving patient data securely, while keeping them available, and managing data beneficially in the long term. In 2008 the KGU switched their archive system to a software-defined solution. Standardized interfaces enable a trouble-free connection of different systems to the archiving solution. The changeover was an essential cornerstone for the introduction of the digital patient file, and guarantees compliance with strict legal requirements in healthcare.

Preserving digital art and large videos

The central task of a museum is the preservation of artworks for future generations – in high quality, unchangeable, and secure for the long term. This involves the digitization of analog works as well as
so-called “born-digital“ works - artworks which are created in digital form. At this point, file sizes will increase dramatically with Full HD and 4K resolutions. Museums cannot only place their focus on preservation: Long-term security and a suitable archive system have to come to the fore, too.

The Kunsthaus Zürich was confronted by challenges in archiving digital artwork securely and over long periods of time. “In the conservation department we have to act in a timely and proactive manner before the process of decay of the artworks begins, or the storage media can no longer be read due to technological change,“ illustrates Kerstin Mürer, Head of Conservation at the Kunsthaus.

The Kunsthaus Zürich now uses a software-defined scale-out archiving platform which is able to archive large data like videos, pictures, and digital art secure with good performance.