Key Takeaways

  • GenomeNext, a genomic informatics company, needed a faster, more secure way to develop and deploy changes to its AWS Genomics Cloud Platform.
  • Effectual designed a DevOps process with Dev/QA/Prod environments on AWS, integrated third-party DevOps tools, and mapped processes to security/compliance controls.
  • Key AWS tools used included Elastic Load Balancing, CloudWatch, CloudFormation, and CodeDeploy for near-zero-downtime deployments.
  • DevOps automation significantly increased deployment frequency while dramatically decreasing deployment failures and recovery time.
  • The new architecture lets GenomeNext deploy an exact copy of its production environment into any AWS region within minutes for disaster recovery.

GenomeNext is a genomic informatics company dedicated to accelerating the promise and capability of predictive medicine and scientific discovery. It commercializes genomic analysis tools and integrated systems for the evaluation of genetic variation and function.

The advanced informatics and data management solutions are designed to simplify, expedite and enhance genetic analysis workflows. GenomeNext solutions provide the market with genomic data and analysis at an unprecedented combination of performance, quality, cost and scale without requiring the investment in high-performance computing resources and specialized personnel. The proprietary platforms address a broad range of highly interconnected markets, including sequencing, genotyping, gene expression, and molecular diagnostics. GenomeNext customers include leading genomic research centers, academic institutions, government laboratories, and clinical research organizations, as well as pharmaceutical, biotechnology, agrigenomics, and consumer genomics companies.

The Challenge

GenomeNext needed a more efficient way to develop and deploy application changes to its Amazon Web Services Genomics Cloud Platform while maintaining high level of security and compliance.

The Solution

We worked with GenomeNext to design efficient development and agile management process, setup internal DevOps software and AWS infrastructure components, mapped processes to appropriate security and compliance controls, integrated third party DevOps tools with the GenomeNext Cloud platform, implemented development life cycle environments (Dev, QA, and Prod) on AWS, monitored and reduced AWS costs, and architecture high availability and disaster recovery. Our solution enhanced GenomeNext’s ability to quickly and securely roll out application development and infrastructure changes with minimal to zero downtime through the use of tools such as AWS Elastic Load Balancing, AWS CloudWatch, AWS CloudFormation, and AWS CodeDeploy.

The Benefits

Automation

GenomeNext recognized the advantages of DevOps automation by a significant increase in deployment frequencies, a dramatic decrease in deployment failures, immediate recovery of failed deployments, and reduction in the time required for changes.

Disaster Recovery

By combining AWS and DevOps, GenomeNext can automate the deployment of an exact copy of its Production solution within minutes into any AWS region, allowing it to meet its recovery time objectives.

Cost Savings

GenomeNext realized cost saving utilizing DevOps and AWS. Cost saving came in terms of maintaining a small staff, increased quality of products, reduction deployment complexity, and faster time to market.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does GenomeNext do?

GenomeNext is a genomic informatics company that commercializes genomic analysis tools and integrated systems for evaluating genetic variation and function, serving research centers, government laboratories, and biotech/pharma companies.

What challenge did GenomeNext face before working with Effectual?

It needed a more efficient way to develop and deploy application changes to its AWS Genomics Cloud Platform while maintaining a high level of security and compliance.

What AWS tools did Effectual implement for GenomeNext?

AWS Elastic Load Balancing, AWS CloudWatch, AWS CloudFormation, and AWS CodeDeploy, along with Dev/QA/Prod environments on AWS.

How did the solution improve GenomeNext's disaster recovery?

By combining AWS and DevOps, GenomeNext can automate deployment of an exact copy of its production solution within minutes into any AWS region, meeting its recovery time objectives.

What cost benefits did GenomeNext see?

Cost savings came from maintaining a smaller staff, higher product quality, reduced deployment complexity, and faster time to market.