NAKIVO VM Backup Appliance Based on Synology NAS Boosts Backup Speed by 2X for a Medical Institution

Charlotte Radiology, a radiology group practice, headquartered in Charlotte, United States, boosts VM backup speed by 2X and saves VM backup storage space by 50% with NAKIVO Backup & Replication installed on Synology NAS.

www.charlotteradiology.com

Business Challenge

Founded in 1967, Charlotte Radiology is one of the largest and most progressive radiology groups in the US. In addition to offering 24/7 coverage for 14 hospitals, Charlotte Radiology also owns and operates 13 breast centers, 3 mobile mammography units, 3 vein centers, a cosmetic center, and several vascular and interventional clinics.

With 19 different locations, Charlotte’s Radiology IT infrastructure is primarily virtualized and consists of 10 ESXi hosts. “VMware VMs store standard file servers, application servers, Microsoft SQL and Exchange, and the Radiology Information System. The Radiology Information System is the main application that drives our patient centers because without this application we cannot provide proper services to our patients, as it contains medical records, insurance, and personal information. It is crucial for the continuity of our business to have the Radiology Information System available 24/7,” says Tony Maynard, Manager of Information Technology at Charlotte Radiology.

Previously, Charlotte Radiology relied on a different VM backup solution for data protection, but the software was complicated and could not keep up with the changing requirements of the group. “The previous VM backup solution supported our needs at first, but at the same time was not intuitive because it required several steps and processes to get to know how the product operates. Due to the product’s complexity, it came to the point that only two people in our department were able to perform backups and restores. In addition, we were limited by the amount of the capacity that we were able to back up. Moreover, scheduling multiple backup jobs at once was fairly painful. The biggest issue was that we paid for 100% of the product, but could only back up 80% of the capacity,” says Tony.

Solution

While searching for a replacement, Tony was looking for an easy-to-use VM backup solution that would have no capacity limitations and was able to integrate well with a cloud. "We wanted a more streamlined solution, where anybody in our department could schedule backup jobs without any problems. Furthermore, we wanted a solution that would support all the newest VMware releases and have a professional support in place. Basically, NAKIVO Backup & Replication provided all of that, so after 30 days of trial and evaluation, we decided to purchase the product," says Tony.

"NAKIVO Backup & Replication not only met our initial requirements, but we were pleasantly surprised that we needed no training sessions to use the product. I really enjoy the fact that once we installed NAKIVO Backup & Replication on Synology NAS, we just log into the interface and start the work," says Tony.

Charlotte Radiology selected the Synology NAS installation because it unifies all VM data protection components in one box, without the need to maintain additional hardware. “With Synology NAS, there is no need to add a 3rd party software to get it synchronized to the cloud, no Windows overhead, no worries about patching with the latest Microsoft update, no worrying about the hard drive going bad in RAID 5. NAKIVO Backup & Replication on Synology NAS provides a super intuitive interface, additional storage space, and easy integration with Amazon cloud," says Tony.

"With NAKIVO Backup & Replication, we perform VM backups six days a week and backup our file servers every three hours. The scheduling process is really intuitive because you have different options and you do not have to try to figure it out and note it all down. Backup jobs take roughly minutes to complete and there are no limitations on the amount of backup jobs to schedule at one time," says Tony.

NAKIVO Backup & Replication installed on Synology NAS provided increased VM backup speed and provided storage space savings for Charlotte Radiology. "In terms of speed, Synology NAS boosts the performance nearly 2X. With the previous VM backup solution, we were backing up roughly 13TB of data every night and with NAKIVO Backup & Replication, we now backup only 5TB because of data deduplication and compression, so this is huge savings in terms of space and performance," says Tony.

Results

NAKIVO Backup & Replication installed on Synology NAS, provides Charlotte Radiology with a 2X VM backup speed increase and VM storage space saving of nearly 50%. With NAKIVO Backup & Replication, the group can now backup an unlimited amount of data and copy VM backups to the cloud. "NAKIVO Backup & Replication provides us with ultimate speed, performance, and granularity, and eliminates the need to purchase any add-ons for cloud integration. Previously, we were licensed to a certain amount we could back up, but now NAKIVO Backup & Replication removed that barrier and allows us to back up everything in the entire organization. With NAKIVO Backup & Replication, we have confidence in our backup infrastructure," says Tony.

Company Profile

Having served Charlotte for 50 years, Charlotte Radiology is a radiology group practice that specializes in imaging, with sub-specialized radiologists. Charlotte Radiology specializes in Diagnostic Radiology, Vascular and Interventional Radiology, Neuroradiology, Pediatric Radiology, Musculoskeletal Radiology, Radiology, Nuclear Medicine, Nuclear Radiology, and General Practice. The group employs more than 90 radiologists with diverse and specialty training in everything from Mammography to Musculoskeletal and Pediatrics to Interventional Radiology. The group’s mission is to provide quality-driven, innovative, customer-focused services that exceed expectations. For more information, please visit www.charlotteradiology.com.