With an HP system nearing the end of its usefulness and a thirst for more storage, St Helens and Knowsley teaching hospitals trust decided to switch to a cloud array for its patient data. "Performance has been improved in some cases four or fivefold, in terms of data system responsiveness," says Phil Corrin, deputy chief …

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Monday 23rd January 2012 10:34 GMT Anonymous Coward

This is just an advert for EMC>

So they've put buzz word of the moment "cloud" into the article and disguised the fact that the hospital has simply replaced old storage with new, in this case an unspecified HP system with a VMAX.

Maybe I need to replace the hard drive in my PC with a "cloud" hard drive.

Just because VMAX can move data around internally doesn't make this a big deal. Most systems do this now.

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1. Monday 23rd January 2012 14:03 GMT Captain Scarlet
  
  Cloud Hard Drive
  
  I wouldn't trust my data to be held on something that has overheated or is on fire.
  
  What if I install a steam thing like they use on Hornby trainsets, it would be much safer?
  
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Monday 23rd January 2012 12:43 GMT Hayden Clark

"Technical Engineer"

What other kind is there?

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Monday 23rd January 2012 12:52 GMT Phil O'Sophical

cloudy storage?

So they've swapped out a small old array, for a newer bigger, expandable one? What has this got to do with clouds?

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Monday 23rd January 2012 12:58 GMT Adam 73

So what about this is cloud exactly?

I was expecting an article about true cloud based storage and how the authority overcame issues around data security, latency, migration and all the other challanges in that area.

Instead I was presented with an advert for an EMC array, and not even a particularly impressive one at that! (Ooohhh data tiering ....... how very 2009)

Mind you the article came from a public sector magazine so its hardly suprising they dont have a clue!

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Monday 23rd January 2012 14:23 GMT Juillen 1

It's a start.

NHS IT is often the "Poor Cousin". Most of the staff there consider IT as nothing more than magic lights that come on a screen, and everything happens with a wave of a wand. When competing with resources to make sure patients survive surgery, it's hard to justify why you may need a few hundred grand to store documents and databases.

Until, of course, the documents and databases vanish, and nobody has any idea on what to do with the patients in the clinics in the first place.

Still it's one hospital that's managed to present things as they are: If we don't have this, then things will go badly. You won't have the magic lights on the screen and no amount of wand waving will fix that. And overall, this is the best way to go for cost effectiveness.

Yes, it's very "yesterday" for industry, that actually gets to put its profits back into building infrastructure, and has the scope to hire people to carry on the business. The NHS, currently, is fighting to keep the head above water, and with several projects in there that make things like this look small. But it's a hospital trust, and it's doing the right thing. Personally, I give it a round of applause for what it's achieved. Never underestimate the small steps in doing the right thing.

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