Overcoming key challenges

INTRODUCTION
We recently interviewed a selection of leading Pharma experts working in Cloud computing. The answers are collated in this e-book. We hope you find their responses interesting and beneficial. Pharma Cloud World 2011, held in November this year, will discuss the opportunities and challenges, strategies and operational implementation of cloud computing for the pharmaceutical industry.

Including:
Dr Philip Groth, Managing Scientist, Bayer Schering Pharma Jan Hauss, Head, Analytical Research Informatics, Merck Martin Leach, Chief Information Officer, Broad Institute Nick Trigg, CEO, Constellation Technologies

Visit www.healthnetworkcommunications.com/pharmacloud for more information. For conference enquiries, please contact Sabrina: +44 (0)207 608 7055 skhamissa@healthnetworkcommunications.com

Dr Philip Groth

What are the drivers for cloud implementation?

Improving efficiency while saving resources (i.e. reducing costs). In some applications, clouds can operate when needed and their availability and computing resources can be tuned to the current requirements ondemand. Prior to this, a company needed to behold large servers that would rarely be used at full load.

Managing Scientist Bayer Schering Pharma Presentation: Operational realities of adopting a cloud computing approach

What areas of R&D in your company is cloud being implemented and exploited?
Bayer is using clouds for example in cancer genomics efforts, where largescale data analyses for genome-wide biomarker and drug-efficacy screens needs computing powers beyond scale. Clouds are particularly effective here, because such analyses typically only takes a short period of time where high-powered computers are needed and then these computing resources are no longer required until the next project.

What are the challenges and pragmatic issues around moving to the cloud?
Data transfer to the cloud and data hosting in it is one of the major issues at hand. Most cloud vendors will charge so much per MB of data stored and/or transferred with the effect that barely used clouds end up being more expensive than hosting large servers in-house that idle much of the time. Thus, the availability of pricing models individually arranged for the customers needs is still missing in the field. Another pragmatic issue is cloud maintenance. Imagine having a highly tuned system that you need to run specially programmed software on, but only once in a while. Strategically, using a cloud service would be the best option, however, cloud servers very seldom come pre-customized to specialty needs. Therefore, you need IT specialists that will actually tune and maintain the softwareside. This overhead adds to the hidden expenses that sometimes make clouds difficult to use pragmatically in R&D. The third and still a big challenge is the organization as a cloud-service customer. Large companies have many IT standards regarding data types, software and security. Typically, the internal IT landscape has been tuned to these standards with great efforts. Clouds, however, will likely not immediately adhere to these standards and may sometimes even not be adjustable to them at all. Thus, the use of clouds per se is largely dependent on the flexibility of the organization, ranging from IT personnel all the way to controlling/billing (i.e. who pays for cloud services and how). Overcoming key challenges

Jan Hauss

What are the drivers for cloud implementation?

Promised advantages are: Speed, Speed, Speed

What areas of R&D in your company is cloud being implemented and exploited?
Head, Analytical Research Informatics Merck Presentation: Examining enterprise solution architectures as the bigger picture to cloud computing
We have not implemented an external cloud yet - but some people are evaluating private cloud techniques.

What are the challenges and pragmatic issues around moving to the cloud?
Challenges are fulfilling security (ISO27K) - & national (BDSG) - & EU regulations and still keeping the speed advantage cloud computing promises. Issues are setting up legal framework and a sound infrastructure to use the cloud efficiently. (Raw data or metadata storage is needed/Accessibility of data/Reliability of service quality.) Typical "show stoppers are licensing issues e.g. "named user" license.

What are the drivers for cloud implementation?

Martin Leach
Chief Information Officer Broad Institute Presentation: Lessons learned leveraging the cloud for genomic sequence and other data analysis

Agility, flexibility, scale

How is the cloud helping and being leveraged for collaborative research and information exchange?
Provides the ability for external facing IT capabilities that can be managed by a third party, including provisioning of services. Allows for easier sharing of documents and data, for direct sharing or as an external intermediary/broker for information.

What are the challenges and pragmatic issues around moving to the cloud?
Cost, stability, support model.

Overcoming key challenges

Nick Trigg
CEO Constellation Technologies Presentation: Lessons learned leveraging the cloud for genomic sequence and other data analysis

What are the drivers for cloud implementation?

The normal cloud drivers for all uses of the cloud are the promise of lower costs, access to large numbers of computers for additional processing power, the on-demand payments structure, the ability to store large data sets and near instant scalability or elasticity as and when required. The special and additional drivers for the Life Science community are often forgotten. They are access to new applications and tools, the ability to collaborate, the access to public and private data bases and the promise of saving costs further down the research process by modelling process that have never been modelled before.

How is the cloud helping and being leveraged for collaborative research and information exchange?

Large and small companies are already using secure cloud services to save costs and shorten drug development times. It is already delivering the advantages mentioned above. Global dispersed teams are collaborating using large datasets and new algorithms and discovering new drug targets in shorter times. It is already making a difference... and the exciting thing is that it is open to companies of all sizes.

What are the challenges and pragmatic issues around moving to the cloud?
The whole process is challenging but not impossible and the benefits are real and achievable. Many of the real challenges are ones that are cultural or internal. First time users are often concerned with issues such as security of data, software licences and costs. Most of these and certainly the technical ones have been already addressed and solved and, consequently, there are very few real challenges of moving into the cloud. Just do it slowly and learn along the way. If they arent already doing it, most of your competitors are certainly looking at it.

Thank you for downloading Health Network Communications Pharma Cloud e-book. All views and opinions expressed in this document belong to the named speaker. For more information please visit www.healthnetworkcommunications.com/pharmacloud

Overcoming key challenges