Client Overview
A healthcare company with operations across India, generates massive volumes of patient reports, imaging data, and compliance records every year. Regulatory requirements mandate that medical records be securely stored for 7–10 years, even though the majority of the files are rarely accessed after the first few months.
Business Challenge
The company’s traditional storage systems were expensive, difficult to scale, and required frequent hardware upgrades. In addition:
- Large volumes of data were consuming premium on-premises storage.
- Old files were rarely accessed but still needed to remain secure and compliant.
- Backup and archival were manual, time-consuming, and error-prone.
- Rising storage costs threatened overall IT budgets.
MediSure Diagnostics needed a reliable, automated, and low-cost archival solution without sacrificing data security or compliance.
Discovery and Planning
In workshops with DevOps TechLab, the client outlined their key needs:
- Long-term retention with minimal storage costs.
- Secure and compliant data archival with AES-256 encryption.
- Automated transition of files from active storage to archive tiers.
- A simple retrieval mechanism for compliance audits and legal inquiries.
Based on these needs, Amazon S3 Glacier and Glacier Deep Archive were selected as the optimal storage solution.
Solution
DevOps TechLab designed a hybrid cloud archival workflow leveraging AWS S3 and Glacier:
- S3 Buckets for Active Data
- All reports and imaging data were first synchronized to Amazon S3 Standard for active use.
- Bucket versioning and encryption were enabled to ensure compliance.
- Lifecycle Policies
- After 60 days, objects automatically transitioned to S3 Glacier.
- Data older than 365 days was shifted to Glacier Deep Archive, minimizing costs.
- Automated Backups & Monitoring
- Backup jobs were scheduled through AWS DataSync for seamless transfers.
- AWS CloudWatch dashboards were set up for storage cost monitoring.
- Retrieval & Compliance Readiness
- Configured retrieval options (Expedited, Standard, Bulk) to handle different access needs.
- Ensured all archived files met HIPAA and regulatory compliance standards.
Outcome and Benefits
- Cost Reduction: Achieved up to 80% cost savings compared to traditional storage.
- Scalability: No more hardware upgrades; storage grows automatically with data.
- Automation: Manual archival tasks were eliminated through lifecycle rules.
- Compliance: Secured, encrypted, and auditable storage that meets regulatory standards.
- Flexibility: Retrieval options ensure critical files can be accessed within minutes when required.
Company is now enjoys a cost-efficient, automated, and compliant archival solution that secures years of patient records while freeing up on-premises storage resources.
