STORAGE

Panasas, Inc., today announced that the three universities involved in the California Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Research (QB3) project are leveraging the performance and manageability of the Panasas ActiveScale Storage ClusterT. Researchers at the Universities of California at San Francisco, Santa Cruz, and Berkeley (UCSF, UCSC, UCB) are working to unlock the genetic blueprints for hundreds of organisms, including humans, and accelerate the development of life-saving drugs. QB3's use of the Panasas Storage Cluster enables researchers to tackle the mathematics, physics and engineering aspects of their research more quickly. In order to gain a better understanding of how life-threatening diseases form and to provide the groundwork for new medicines to combat them, QB3 researchers analyze the behavior of protein molecules. Inconsistent performance from their existing storage offerings led each university to conduct separate, exhaustive evaluations of new storage solutions. All three universities selected the Panasas Storage Cluster. The Panasas Storage Cluster reduces data processing times and allows the system to scale in both capacity and clients-supported without significant administrator effort or performance degradation. At the Andrej Sali Laboratory at UCSF, researchers use computation grounded in the laws of physics and evolution to study the structure and function of proteins. Researchers at the Sali Laboratory leverage advanced computing solutions for high-throughput structural and functional studies of proteins to meet their scientific goals. Through the use of the Panasas Storage Cluster, the team at Sali is experiencing a 5x improvement in performance for key applications. "We're analyzing millions of small files and needed an IT solution that could return results to our researchers as quickly as possible," said Dr. Ursula Pieper, Assistant Researcher at UC-San Francisco. "Panasas was selected for its random I/O performance capabilities, ease of management through a seamless global namespace, and overall value." The UCSC Center for Biomolecular Sciences and Engineering launches interdisciplinary research and academic programs that address the scientific questions of the post-genomic era. In order to process the huge quantity of data encompassed in the UCSC Human Genome Browser, the center leverages the KiloKluster - a second-generation 1000+ node bioinformatics cluster. Panasas was selected to provide data storage for the KiloKluster after other storage solutions failed to meet its high performance and reliability requirements. "We were having significant difficulties handling the load coming from our KiloKluster," said Robert Baertsch, Research Assistant at UC-Santa Cruz. "The Panasas Storage Cluster was able to deliver exceptional results at a very compelling price point. We are extremely happy with our decision to purchase Panasas."The installation at University of California, Berkeley Center for Integrative Genomics was announced in October 2003. They use the Panasas Storage Cluster to enhance comparative genomics analysis with their Linux cluster, employing breakthrough approaches to parallel data queuing and distribution. "Academia is one of the many markets where Linux clusters are making inroads, but the bottleneck associated with proprietary storage systems has not kept pace. Panasas is dedicated to providing the high-performance and cost-effective storage solutions that can eliminate these bottlenecks and help make a real impact on peoples' lives," said Victor Perez, chief executive officer at Panasas. Background: Panasas, Inc. helps companies accelerate the speed and accuracy of their business decisions, leading to real world breakthroughs that improve people's lives. Panasas enables customers to maximize the benefits of Linux clusters by breaking down the storage bottleneck created by legacy network storage technologies. Through the delivery of the company's Storage Cluster platform, which combines industry-standard hardware with the company's ActiveScale File System and professional services, the company has become the established leader in object-based, clustered storage. Panasas' headquarters are in Fremont, CA with development facilities in Pittsburgh, PA and Houston, TX. For more information, please visit www.panasas.com.