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Actian > Case Studies > Reducing Time to Insight from Days to Minutes: A Case Study on the University of Oxford's Clinical Trial Service Unit
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Reducing Time to Insight from Days to Minutes: A Case Study on the University of Oxford's Clinical Trial Service Unit

Technology Category
  • Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Database Management & Storage
  • Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Databases
Applicable Industries
  • Cement
  • Healthcare & Hospitals
Use Cases
  • Construction Management
  • Smart Campus
Services
  • Hardware Design & Engineering Services
  • Training
The Challenge
The Clinical Trial Service Unit and Epidemiological Studies Unit (CTSU) at the University of Oxford was struggling with an aging legacy database infrastructure that could not handle the increasing volume of data nor run analytics against thousands of fields in multiple tables in a timely manner. The researchers at CTSU were dealing with vast amounts of information related to the causes and treatments of chronic illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, and stroke. They were seeking greater insights into links between causes and diseases as well as prevention and treatment options. However, extracting insights from the ever-increasing volume of data was becoming more and more difficult. Their ad hoc analytical queries could take multiple days to return a response. The researchers needed a faster, more cost-effective way to identify, manipulate, and extract the exact data they needed from the large pool of data they had accumulated, and gain insights from that data far faster than the legacy infrastructure could accommodate.
About The Customer
The Clinical Trial Service Unit and Epidemiological Studies Unit (CTSU) is part of the Nuffield Department of Population Health at the University of Oxford in the UK. CTSU aims to generate and disseminate reliable evidence from both observational epidemiology and randomized trials which can lead researchers to practicable methods of avoiding premature death and disability. Researchers at CTSU deal with huge volumes of information pertaining to the causes and treatments of chronic illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, and stroke, which collectively account for most adult deaths in the developed world. They are in search of greater insights into links between causes and diseases as well as prevention and treatment options.
The Solution
CTSU deployed the Actian X enterprise-grade hybrid database for next-generation operational analytics. Actian X combines the industry-leading Actian Ingres transactional database with the Actian Vector analytic database to enable record-breaking analytics on large volumes of data. Actian X also bundles world-class integration and enterprise monitoring features as well as greater ease of administration than competitive products. This allows CTSU IT personnel to support the solution, even with the large volumes of data involved, with minimal engagement. CTSU had been using Actian Ingres to support other operations within the University for years, so they were already familiar with Actian. The addition of the vector processing capabilities of Actian X to existing routines for managing transaction processing technologies of Ingres required minimal training and added very little management overhead.
Operational Impact
  • The deployment of Actian X has transformed the way CTSU researchers work. They can now run queries that were previously impossible due to the limitations of the old database infrastructure. The speed and efficiency of Actian X have led to a significant improvement in the turnaround times for data analysis. As the researchers grew more accustomed to the rapid response times, they also became more demanding, but Actian X has been able to meet these demands. Moreover, the solution is future-proofed, as it is designed to run on commodity hardware that can scale at a cost-efficient rate. This means that as computing advances and hardware performance increases, the benefits to the users will also increase. The solution has also required minimal training and added very little management overhead, making it easy for the IT personnel to support.
Quantitative Benefit
  • CTSU researchers can now run ad-hoc analytic queries against large data volumes and get answers in minutes—even seconds—rather than days.
  • CTSU researchers were able to load their data and start analyzing it within hours of deploying Actian X.
  • Actian X is designed to run on commodity hardware that can scale at a cost-efficient rate, ensuring that the solution will continue to support CTSU for the foreseeable future.

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