OSSI helps Align Technology Manage Its Many Terabytes

The Challenge: Bracing for Rapid Growth

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Align Technology burst on the scene with its Invisalign System, which uses 3-D computer graphics to create a customized series of transparent orthodontic aligners. As patients progress from one aligner to the next in the series, their teeth gradually shift into a beautifully straight smile.

While the process is simple for the orthodontist and patient, it's anything but for Align. Because of the large 3-D images, a single case can require 45MB of data. Multiply that by thousands of customers and it quickly compounds into terabytes. In addition, each patient's data must be readily available to the orthodontist throughout the year-long treatment cycle.

The Solution: Scalability Meets Availability

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The company had been considering network-attached storage (NAS), but OSSI steered them to a more appropriate and cost-effective storage area network (SAN). OSSI's recommended solution also allowed capacity to be added on-the-fly, since the company projected its data would grow by half a terabyte quarterly.

At the SAN's core was an LSI Logic MetaStor E4400 storage array. This enterprise-class storage system provided high-speed Fibre Channel connectivity and more than 40TB of scalability. Support for heterogeneous environments meant Align could integrate disparate platforms, including Windows, UNIX, Linux, and several proprietary applications.

In case of a hardware failure, OSSI connected a Qualstar TLS-88132 tape library to the SAN through a backup server. With compressed capacity of up to 26TB and a compressed data rate of 864GB per hour, the library would prove ideal for Align. Syncsort Backup Express software centralized control of backup and restore functions, while a distributed architecture optimized network usage.

Results: Painless Backups

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Align Technology can now back up all data on all systems – including the 3TB SAN – in just 17 hours without going offline.