Cox Business helps Arizona human genome research lab go 'superfast'

Translation Genomics Institute (TGen), an Arizona-based translational research facility has put its money--and data--on an enhanced superfast Cox Business network. The facility is using the network to transport 30 terabyte files of human genome data 12 miles to Arizona State University's Saguaro 2 supercomputer.

The 10 gigabit Ethernet Cox network is necessary to handle "just the sheer volume of data that's being generated by the scientific instrumentation here at TGen," James Lowey, director of the TGen High Performance Computing Center told FierceCable. "With the technology we had before (a 1 gig Ethernet connection) to move between the instrumentation and our supercomputing infrastructure at ASU took about 12 days or so."

The new network cuts that down to 8 hours--still a long time if you're waiting for results from genomic testing, Lowey admitted. But that's about all the sending and receiving end points can handle these days. Cox has optimized the network bandwidth with Obsidian Strategics military technology and TGen is working on improving compression algorithms to slice back the size of an individual's entire human genome.

"We have very sick people out there who are waiting for results from the tasks and the analysis that's being done on these deep sequences," Lowey said. "Even though 12 days to eight hours is great, eight hours is still eight hours. It's still a long time."

For more:
- see this news release

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