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    QUMAS relies on global hosting and security services to deliver life sciences compliance platform

    Sungard AS services allow us to provide a cloud based solution for our customers much more efficiently.

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    Overview

    case-study-logo-qumas-200x100

    Based out of Cork, Ireland, QUMAS is the leading provider of compliance and quality management for the life sciences industry. With domain expertise in regulatory compliance since 1994, QUMAS now hosts more than 280 global customer deployments, the majority of which are in the United States. In July 2010, IT officials at QUMAS selected Sungard Availability Services to host its growing production environment and customer data.

    About QUMAS

    • Headquarters: Cork, Ireland
    • Leading provider of compliance and quality management software for the life sciences industry
    • QUMAS now part of BIOVIA from Dassault Systèmes
    • Industry: SaaS provider
    • Sungard AS Solutions: Managed Colocation, Network, and Security Services

    It was a pretty straightforward process after we signed the contract. We didn’t have any issues with migrating to Sungard AS’ environment, with data privacy or downtime. The Sungard AS engineering team was very knowledgeable and responsive.

    Director of Enterprise Technology, Qumas

    Challenge

    Zero downtime and strict regulatory requirements

    QUMAS – enabling pharmaceutical and biotech companies to get new products to market faster while maintaining compliance with global regulations – needed an IT provider who could host its entire infrastructure and help ensure zero downtime, while adhering to strict regulatory requirements. More recently, QUMAS expanded its services with Sungard AS to include managed security. It also retained a second Sungard AS’ data center, with geographic separation to support disaster recovery and duplicative backup – a compliance requirement.

    “It was important for us to choose a blue-chip partner with a recognized name and with whom customers would feel a sense of comfort.” “Sungard AS services allow us to provide a cloud-based solution for our customers much more efficiently.” Aidan Quilligan, BIOVIA Director of Enterprise Technology.

    Solution

    Sungard AS' expertise and name recognition deliver value

    Why Sungard AS? “It was important for us to choose a blue-chip partner with a recognized name and with whom customers would feel a sense of comfort,” explains Aidan Quilligan, BIOVIA Director of Enterprise Technology.

    QUMAS considered several vendors, looked at their track records, checked references and visited their facilities. QUMAS ultimately selected Sungard AS based on their name recognition, presence in Europe, India and North America, and ability to support the growth initiative of both QUMAS and its customers.

    “It was a pretty straightforward process after we signed the contract,” he notes. “We didn’t have any issues with migrating to Sungard AS’ environment, with data privacy or downtime. The Sungard AS engineering team was very knowledgeable and responsive.”

    QUMAS IT officials say leveraging the Sungard AS’ team saved them from building that IT skill set and likely being required to double the size of its own staff, which didn’t have the depth of knowledge about security and other specific technology that Sungard AS’ professionals provide.

    For example, when considering a hardware configuration change several months ago, a conference call with Sungard AS’ engineers in five different continents took just 30 minutes to determine how to coordinate the change, which “went smoothly,” says Quilligan.

    QUMAS’ second data center site offers the company and its customers an added layer of security. Should the company be faced with a disaster – natural or other – it can failover to its second data center to ensure ‘always on’ availability.

    In addition, QUMAS selected Alert Logic1 for greater protection of its data center. Alert Logic provides security and compliance for cloud, hybrid, and on-premises infrastructure. Alert Logic enabled QUMAS to increase its security stance by leveraging Sungard AS’ and Alert Logic’s knowledge and experience in this domain, delivering a reliable and scalable solution.

    Sungard AS also works with QUMAS to ensure that it meets compliance requirements. This is vital, as the majority of QUMAS customers must comply with FDA and other regulations.

    For example, customers handling electronic records and electronic signatures must be compliant with 21 CFR Part 11 or Annex 11 regulations, depending on where they are located. In other words, as pharmaceutical and biotech organizations go “paperless,” the benefits of an electronic system are an immediate improvement in productivity and a significantly lower risk of non-conformance.

    In regard to its customers, Quilligan says that Sungard AS gives them peace of mind. “They can rest easy knowing that they have best-in-class data centers and infrastructure supporting their data.” In short, without Sungard AS’ support, QUMAS would not be able to achieve its goals.

    Benefit

    Enhanced IT expertise, without additional cost

    Overall, the Sungard AS partnership has allowed QUMAS to not only retain existing customers, but also to win business and get products to market faster. “Sungard AS services allow us to provide a cloud-based solution for our customers much more efficiently,” says Quilligan. Not to mention, QUMAS hasn’t had any incidents that have impacted operations, reflecting an “exemplary level of service” from Sungard AS, he adds. He cites the ease of access to data and Sungard AS’ core communications. In addition, partnering with Sungard AS has allowed the company to keep overhead costs low: from cooling to compliance, Sungard AS handles everything. “It’s a true partnership and we’re extremely pleased with it,” says Quilligan. “In fact, we just extended our contract for another two years."

    Business Benefits

    • Enhanced IT expertise and skill set, without additional headcount
    • Added layer of security supporting disaster recovery and duplicative backup compliance requirements
    • Reliable and scalable solutions helping QUMAS ensure that its customers meet compliance requirements

    QUMAS, now part of BIOVIA from Dassault Systèmes, is the leader in Regulatory, Quality, and Compliance Management Solutions with more than 280 global customer deployments and two decades of experience helping companies in highly regulated industries. QUMAS is a Gold Microsoft Partner and provides the QUMAS Compliance Platform on SharePoint, EMC Documentum, Oracle or SQL.

    case-study-logo-qumas-200x100

    Based out of Cork, Ireland, QUMAS is the leading provider of compliance and quality management for the life sciences industry. With domain expertise in regulatory compliance since 1994, QUMAS now hosts more than 280 global customer deployments, the majority of which are in the United States. In July 2010, IT officials at QUMAS selected Sungard Availability Services to host its growing production environment and customer data.

    About QUMAS

    • Headquarters: Cork, Ireland
    • Leading provider of compliance and quality management software for the life sciences industry
    • QUMAS now part of BIOVIA from Dassault Systèmes
    • Industry: SaaS provider
    • Sungard AS Solutions: Managed Colocation, Network, and Security Services

    It was a pretty straightforward process after we signed the contract. We didn’t have any issues with migrating to Sungard AS’ environment, with data privacy or downtime. The Sungard AS engineering team was very knowledgeable and responsive.

    Director of Enterprise Technology, Qumas

    Zero downtime and strict regulatory requirements

    QUMAS – enabling pharmaceutical and biotech companies to get new products to market faster while maintaining compliance with global regulations – needed an IT provider who could host its entire infrastructure and help ensure zero downtime, while adhering to strict regulatory requirements. More recently, QUMAS expanded its services with Sungard AS to include managed security. It also retained a second Sungard AS’ data center, with geographic separation to support disaster recovery and duplicative backup – a compliance requirement.

    “It was important for us to choose a blue-chip partner with a recognized name and with whom customers would feel a sense of comfort.” “Sungard AS services allow us to provide a cloud-based solution for our customers much more efficiently.” Aidan Quilligan, BIOVIA Director of Enterprise Technology.

    Sungard AS' expertise and name recognition deliver value

    Why Sungard AS? “It was important for us to choose a blue-chip partner with a recognized name and with whom customers would feel a sense of comfort,” explains Aidan Quilligan, BIOVIA Director of Enterprise Technology.

    QUMAS considered several vendors, looked at their track records, checked references and visited their facilities. QUMAS ultimately selected Sungard AS based on their name recognition, presence in Europe, India and North America, and ability to support the growth initiative of both QUMAS and its customers.

    “It was a pretty straightforward process after we signed the contract,” he notes. “We didn’t have any issues with migrating to Sungard AS’ environment, with data privacy or downtime. The Sungard AS engineering team was very knowledgeable and responsive.”

    QUMAS IT officials say leveraging the Sungard AS’ team saved them from building that IT skill set and likely being required to double the size of its own staff, which didn’t have the depth of knowledge about security and other specific technology that Sungard AS’ professionals provide.

    For example, when considering a hardware configuration change several months ago, a conference call with Sungard AS’ engineers in five different continents took just 30 minutes to determine how to coordinate the change, which “went smoothly,” says Quilligan.

    QUMAS’ second data center site offers the company and its customers an added layer of security. Should the company be faced with a disaster – natural or other – it can failover to its second data center to ensure ‘always on’ availability.

    In addition, QUMAS selected Alert Logic1 for greater protection of its data center. Alert Logic provides security and compliance for cloud, hybrid, and on-premises infrastructure. Alert Logic enabled QUMAS to increase its security stance by leveraging Sungard AS’ and Alert Logic’s knowledge and experience in this domain, delivering a reliable and scalable solution.

    Sungard AS also works with QUMAS to ensure that it meets compliance requirements. This is vital, as the majority of QUMAS customers must comply with FDA and other regulations.

    For example, customers handling electronic records and electronic signatures must be compliant with 21 CFR Part 11 or Annex 11 regulations, depending on where they are located. In other words, as pharmaceutical and biotech organizations go “paperless,” the benefits of an electronic system are an immediate improvement in productivity and a significantly lower risk of non-conformance.

    In regard to its customers, Quilligan says that Sungard AS gives them peace of mind. “They can rest easy knowing that they have best-in-class data centers and infrastructure supporting their data.” In short, without Sungard AS’ support, QUMAS would not be able to achieve its goals.

    Enhanced IT expertise, without additional cost

    Overall, the Sungard AS partnership has allowed QUMAS to not only retain existing customers, but also to win business and get products to market faster. “Sungard AS services allow us to provide a cloud-based solution for our customers much more efficiently,” says Quilligan. Not to mention, QUMAS hasn’t had any incidents that have impacted operations, reflecting an “exemplary level of service” from Sungard AS, he adds. He cites the ease of access to data and Sungard AS’ core communications. In addition, partnering with Sungard AS has allowed the company to keep overhead costs low: from cooling to compliance, Sungard AS handles everything. “It’s a true partnership and we’re extremely pleased with it,” says Quilligan. “In fact, we just extended our contract for another two years."

    Business Benefits

    • Enhanced IT expertise and skill set, without additional headcount
    • Added layer of security supporting disaster recovery and duplicative backup compliance requirements
    • Reliable and scalable solutions helping QUMAS ensure that its customers meet compliance requirements

    QUMAS, now part of BIOVIA from Dassault Systèmes, is the leader in Regulatory, Quality, and Compliance Management Solutions with more than 280 global customer deployments and two decades of experience helping companies in highly regulated industries. QUMAS is a Gold Microsoft Partner and provides the QUMAS Compliance Platform on SharePoint, EMC Documentum, Oracle or SQL.