Accelerating Genetic Insights: Softcat Delivers for Irish Agriculture
Project at a Glance
ICBF needed a fast, scalable storage solution to support the rapid growth of Ireland’s National Genotyping Programme. Their existing system was out of capacity and time critical government reporting meant delays were not an option. Softcat delivered and installed a high-performance NetApp and Cisco solution on time, expanded storage to over 300TB (later +150TB), overcame supply chain delays, and provided ongoing expert support. The result is a reliable, high-performance infrastructure enabling faster genetic evaluations, long-term scalability, and improved national agricultural outcomes.
Up to 25% faster processing for genetic evaluations
days saved per evaluation cycle for cattle and sheep workflows
Challenge
ICBF’s 180TB, 10-year-old storage system was running out of capacity just as the National Genotyping Programme scaled up from analysing 200,000 animals a year to over one million. This surge in data created urgent performance, capacity, and timeline pressures. Tight government reporting schedules, public-sector tender requirements, and the need for high-performance infrastructure made on time delivery critical to avoid programme disruption.
Critical Success Factors:
1
Scalable storage built for rapid data growth
A significant increase in storage capacity to handle growing genomic datasets.
2
Performance ready for complex genetic workloads
High-performance infrastructure to support complex genetic evaluations and HPC workloads.
3
Delivered on time, without compromise
On-time delivery and installation to meet strict programme deadlines.
Solution
Softcat designed and delivered a scalable, high-performance solution built on NetApp AFF storage with Cisco networking. The deployment provided over 300TB of fast, low latency capacity, fully integrated with ICBF’s Oracle and HPC environments. When Cisco hardware was unexpectedly delayed, Softcat sourced temporary replacements from Europe to keep the project on track. Softcat engineers managed installation, configuration, and post deployment consultancy - ensuring a smooth, reliable setup tailored to ICBF’s evolving needs.
- NetApp AFF storage platform delivering over 300TB capacity.
- Cisco networking integrated for performance and resilience.
- Full installation and ongoing consultancy by Softcat Professional Services.
Results
ICBF now processes genetic and DNA data significantly faster, with major time savings across cattle and sheep evaluations. The system is stable, high-performance, and scalable, supporting billions of data points and future national programme growth. ICBF can run development and testing environments without disrupting production, and the new platform strengthens Ireland’s global position in agricultural genomics. The dependable infrastructure gives the organisation confidence to focus on supporting farmers and advancing sustainable breeding.
- Up to 25% reduction in processing time for genetic evaluations.
- Scalable storage to support future research and national programmes.
- Reliable infrastructure delivering peace of mind and operational efficiency.
Softcat delivered exactly what we needed, when we needed it, to the specification we demanded. Was it fraught at times? Absolutely. But the team went above and beyond to source kit and keep us on track. The installation was seamless, and the solution has been rock solid ever since. We’d recommend Softcat because of the service, they delivered under pressure and got us over the hump.
Jonathan Flack
Senior Systems Administrator, ICBF