We all, on some level, use cloud technology on a regular basis—whether we’re working on spreadsheets in Google Docs with our colleagues or storing photos we take on our phones. However, when it comes to microscope images, labs haven’t necessarily gotten on board with using the cloud for storage.
But according to Dr. Samuel Bentley, Imaging Platform Engineering Lead at AstraZeneca, they should—and in the NSH Integrating Microscopes with The Cloud webinar, he explains key reasons why.
Cost
One vital consideration for moving images to the cloud is the significant cost savings that labs can enjoy when they do. For as little as $23 per terabyte per month, labs can securely store their images and access them whenever they need to. Additionally, labs that want a place for older images can use a service called Glacier Deep Archive, which allows users to store data for $1 per terabyte per month.
“If you've got a bunch of images, and you're not going to touch them or they've been left on a hard disk somewhere for years and you just want to archive them, Glacier Deep Archive is perfect for that,” said Bentley. “The drawback is that when you want access to it, you have to pay and wait a couple of days, but it’s not expensive.”
Low maintenance
While companies may think it’s a lot easier to keep all of their images stored in house, the maintenance involved may actually create more work, and expense, than they realize.
“If you have on-premise storage, you'll have to pay someone to come and look after the servers that you've got in your lab, do the software patches to fix up issues, and back things up to do the networking and security. With the cloud, it literally happens in the background. You just don't notice any of these things when it's in the cloud,” Bentley explained. “It’s such a contrast to the older way of working where you've got everything on premise. Also, a big advantage of storage in the cloud is that you can free up data from on-premise storage because your microscopes and scanners will still need to use an on-premise server. If you back up data to the cloud, you can free up storage quite often.”
Computation
Bentley says that AstraZeneca uses a system called AWS Glue for data processing and analytics on images, so the company can process millions of images seamlessly.
“It’s very impressive and it's just completely opaque to you. You press go and it just does all the hard work in the background for you,” he said. “Previously when we’d do it on-premise, you'd have to create all these servers and do the networking yourself.”
In today's digital age, cloud technology offers significant benefits for labs storing and managing microscope images. By moving to the cloud, labs can achieve substantial cost savings, streamline maintenance, and unlock powerful computational capabilities. The cloud allows for affordable, secure storage solutions, reducing the need for on-premise servers and freeing up valuable resources. Additionally, cloud-based processing makes data analytics seamless, enabling labs to process large volumes of images with ease. For those interested in embracing the future of lab data management, exploring cloud integration is a step worth taking.
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