Ludger is an industry leader specialising in glycomics and glycoanalytical technology to support biopharmaceutical realisation and translational medicine. We spoke with Dr Daryl Fernandes, Chief Executive at Ludger Ltd about the infrastructure upgrade and benefits since partnering with Sharp as their IT support provider.
“We’ve developed a great working relationship based on trust and communication.”
Dr Daryl Fernandes, Chief Executive, Ludger Ltd
The Challenge
• IT infrastructure update needed to meet their changing and increasing requirement for data storage.
• Existing IT support provider unable to meet their needs.
Increasing volume of data and need for secure storage
As a bioscience research company, Ludger Ltd generates significant volumes of valuable and often non-replicable data.
The need for a reliable, robust and efficient IT infrastructure with the highest levels of confidentiality and security is therefore essential to the ongoing success of the company.
When Ludger needed an infrastructure upgrade to meet their changing and ever-increasing requirement for high volumes of data storage, their existing IT company was unable to meet their needs.
Ludger also appreciated that whilst they had some internal IT knowledge it was not sensible to deal with this themselves as they had other, more important areas of the business to focus on. Similarly, employing an in-house IT resource would require an extensive skillset to run an IT infrastructure for a biotech company specialising in personalised medicine.
“Sharp work as though they’re an extension to the Ludger team rather than an outsourced company.”
Dr Daryl Fernandes, Chief Executive, Ludger Ltd
The Solution
• IT systems review and in-depth discussions to ensure Sharp provide the most appropriate setup to meet Ludger’s business needs.
• IT infrastructure upgrade designed to handle the high volumes of data without hindering ongoing admin operations.
• Disaster recovery plan to ensure data was accessible in the worst case scenario.
Reliable and robust IT infrastructure upgrade
As part of this process, Sharp needed to gain a full understanding of what was required from all points of view, looking at both the business and technological needs.
The final proposal was developed through in-depth conversations and building a solid relationship. This meant Ludger were confident they could trust in Sharp’s technical capabilities and had their best interests in mind at all times. This mutual trust enabled open discussions about Ludger’s requirements and expectations, with Sharp able to respond to suggestions and make recommendations for alternative solutions.
The final project proposal included the capability to deal with both the current requirements and also for any future changes to these needs. With the high volumes of data involved the new infrastructure was designed to handle this without hindering ongoing admin operations.
The sensitivity and valuable nature of the data stored meant that a comprehensive disaster recovery plan needed to be in place. There is always the potential for IT systems to “go down” so it was important to ensure solid support was in place to get everything back up and running.
With the old system, back-up tapes were used, however, these relied on manual intervention and therefore had the potential for errors. The new back-up system implemented by Sharp automatically backs up the data, with Sharp regularly checking the servers to ensure everything is working correctly.
This gives Ludger the confidence that if something does go wrong they can restore the data quickly and easily. Despite initial concerns from Ludger, there is also the option to back up automatically to the cloud as the company grows.
“Sharp have designed & installed a robust IT system that ensures we no longer need to worry about whether it’s up to the job.”
Dr Daryl Fernandes, Chief Executive, Ludger Ltd
The Result
• Peace of mind that their IT infrastructure is being efficiently supported.
• Freed up time so the team can focus on other key responsibilities.
• Reliable and knowledgeable IT team to rely on and form as an extension to Ludger vs a nameless third party.
Peace of mind that their IT infrastructure is being supported
Ludger can now focus on their core business whilst being safe in the knowledge that their IT infrastructure is being supported efficiently and effectively. The design has also ensured that despite the growing volumes of data being stored and processed through the network, the administration tasks involved in running the company are not adversely affected.
In circumstances where the servers need rebooting, this is arranged at a time convenient for Ludger minimising disruption to the business.
By outsourcing their IT support to Sharp, Ludger have also secured access to a breadth of knowledge and expertise that can be called upon to meet any changes in requirements or to overcome any IT obstacles that arise.
As an example, prior to Sharp being on-board, a system for video had been set up by Ludger, however, it had not been set up correctly and was also not fully incorporated into the back-up system.
On one occasion there were issues with the disc when the videos were unrecoverable so Ludger approached Sharp for advice. Sharp took the discs away and recovered as much data as possible, providing Ludger with the opportunity to retain at least some of the data.
