With an IBM Cloud hosting solution and IBM Aspera software, BlueBee delivers a powerful offering that accelerates genomics data processing for labs and genomic service providers by up to 133.9 percent.
Envisioning a platform designed to help labs and service providers process genomics data more quickly, BlueBee sought a trusted cloud provider to help bring the offering to market.
BlueBee chose a powerful IBM Cloud® hosting solution, incorporating IBM® Aspera® software to accelerate customer data transfer and IBM Cloud Object Storage technology for scalable storage capacity.
For clinical labs, research centers and service providers in the genomics industry, recent advances in DNA sequencing technology have introduced a new set of challenges. “In the market, the next big bottleneck is no longer the DNA sequencing itself, but performing the data analysis,” says Michelle Garred, Head of Sales and Marketing for BlueBee.
Envisioning a solution designed to process ever-increasing volumes of genetic data more quickly and cost-effectively, BlueBee needed to team with a trusted cloud services provider. The company sought a cloud hosting platform offering flexible infrastructure options, robust security capabilities and data center locations worldwide to support global delivery. “For regulatory reasons, genomic information often must be kept within a certain locality or country,” says Garred. “We have to be able to store genomic data within the local region of our customers’ choice.”
BlueBee chose an IBM Cloud solution based on the platform’s performance, global data center presence and flexibility. “A key differentiator is the availability of bare metal servers with fine-grained capabilities for defining what you need,” says BlueBee Chief Technical Officer Kurt Florus. “With IBM Cloud, you can engineer a system fitted exactly to the task at hand.”
BlueBee launched its powerful platform for genomics data processing on bare metal server infrastructure hosted in IBM Cloud data centers throughout Europe and the US. The business integrated a suite of IBM Aspera software, which uses the patented IBM Aspera Fast, Adaptive, and Secure Protocol (FASP®), into its solution to accelerate customer data transfer and IBM Cloud Object Storage technology to offer virtually unlimited data storage capacity.
Serving customers across Europe and North America, BlueBee helps clinical and research organizations deliver diagnostics and other critical results more rapidly and cost-effectively. The company’s cloud-based platform reduces data transfer time by a reported 75 percent and accelerates data processing by up to 133.9 percent compared to traditional industry infrastructure.
With IBM Cloud infrastructure underpinning its offering, BlueBee can adjust solution delivery as needed. “Some customers need data analysis to be absolutely as fast as possible, and others are more focused on competitive pricing,” says Garred. “IBM Cloud gives us the choice and flexibility to provide a service tailored to customer requirements.”
And with IBM Cloud data centers available around the world, BlueBee supports customers in quickly and easily expanding operations. “When customers want to deploy across a geographical spread, even where regulations vary from country to country, it’s really almost just the click of a button,” says Florus. “And even if you have operations on a global scale, you have a single window where you can see it all.”
Headquartered in Rijswijk, the Netherlands, BlueBee (link resides outside of ibm.com) provides cloud-based genomics solutions designed to help organizations accelerate data analysis, reduce costs and deliver results more quickly. Experts from Delft University of Technology and Imperial College London formed the company in 2011 to create a unique genome analytics offering for research and clinical labs.
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Produced in the United States of America, February 2017.
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