NETWORKS

Celera Genomics Group and Applied Biosystems Group, Applera Corporation businesses, and EMC Corporation announced that Applera is upgrading its computational IT infrastructure supporting Celera's drug discovery and development efforts and the Knowledge Business of Applied Biosystems by replacing its present storage systems with a new EMC global automated networked storage infrastructure. To address the challenge of managing an information infrastructure that will support thousands of users, the Applera businesses purchased 150 terabytes of EMC Symmetrix networked storage, EMC Celerra File Servers and EMC Global Services. Celera Genomics and Applied Biosystems also will implement EMC open software solutions, such as PowerPath and the EMC ControlCenter family of products including EMC SAN Manager and Symmetrix Optimizer, as well as EMC TimeFinder, to further improve data management and availability. EMC automated networked storage is expected to assist Celera Genomics in drug discovery and development through more efficient, reliable and seamless management of a rapidly growing information infrastructure. "We are overhauling our information infrastructure to increase flexibility and to support Celera's drug discovery efforts and Applied Biosystems' online service and product offerings," said Tama Olver, Applera's Vice President and Chief Information Officer. "EMC's high-performance networked storage and advanced software emerged as a solution for supporting our next phase of research by making information sharing more open, efficient and reliable. Consolidating our high-performance computing environment onto EMC storage and implementing open software from EMC's AutoIS strategy should make managing our complex, growing environment more simple, automated and cost efficient." Mark Lewis, EMC's Executive Vice President of New Ventures and Chief Technology Officer, said, "Applied Biosystems and Celera Genomics are using their biotech tools, online databases and scientific capabilities to work towards improving the way people are treated for life-threatening diseases and the understanding of biology. Behind every successful drug discovery is scientific collaboration through information sharing—where EMC has applied 100% dedication. EMC is drawing on its expertise in SAN, NAS, open software and services to ensure that the life sciences industry achieves optimal access to and management of its critical information assets." Celera Genomics and Applied Biosystems are implementing a global EMC storage area network (SAN), to centralize the management of data for hundreds of applications including genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics, medicinal chemistry and databases from Oracle running in a high-performance Unix computing environment. The EMC network attached storage (NAS) solution—based on EMC Celerra File Servers—will manage the companies' Windows 2000 and Windows NT-based file sharing and home directories. EMC Global Services consultants are working with Celera Genomics and Applied Biosystems to migrate data stored on existing systems to EMC Symmetrix networked storage systems and EMC Celerra File Servers. The EMC consultants will provide design, implementation and on-site support of the EMC SAN and NAS environments in Rockville, Maryland.