Antonino Cisternino

IT Director, University of Pisa, University of Pisa

Supernova Award Category: 

Tech Optimization and Modernization

The Organization: 

The University of Pisa is an Italian public research university located in Pisa, Italy. It was founded in 1343 by an edict of Pope Clement VI. It is the 19th oldest extant university in the world and the 10th oldest in Italy.

The Problem: 

study performed by the University of Pisa with the IMAGO7 Foundation determined that Intel® Optane™ technology can be used to significantly reduce magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning times, while increasing the accuracy  of those scans. The university used a technique—called MRI fingerprinting—that is computationally demanding. Because of the high demands on the processor, researchers quickly determined that traditional NAND-based hard disk drives (HDDs) or even solid state drives (SSDs) were not up to the task, because of their inherently high latencies. All in-memory servers or clusters could be used instead of standard drives, but this option would be prohibitive due to the high costs of DRAM. As an alternative, University of Pisa researchers looked to the Intel® Optane™ SSD DC P4800X Series as a more affordable low-latency option for MRI fingerprinting. Study performed by the University of Pisa with the IMAGO7 Foundatio determined that Intel® Optane™ technology can be used to significantly reduce magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning times, while increasing the accuracy of those scans. 

The Solution: 

The University of Pisa implemented Intel Optane SSDs into their systems. With this new system configuration the University was able to bring a 40 min MRI scan down to 2 minutes. The testing shows the enormous potential for the Intel® Optane™ SSD DC P4800X Series to allow MRI fingerprinting as a way for healthcare providers to  significantly  reduce the time patients spend in MRI machines. The solution can reduce data processing times from days to hours, and it is much more affordable than massively expanding DRAM.1 Memory mapping with Intel® Optane™ SSDs also opens the door to other innovative solutions that have not previously been feasible because of the slow performance and high latencies of traditional drives and the prohibitive costs of implementing pure in-memory solutions.

The Results: 

The MRI scan time was reduced from 40 min to 2 min.

Metrics: 

To see how much benefit the Intel® Optane™ SSD DC P4800X Series could provide, the engineers performed several preliminary tests at the University of Pisa.

Tests were performed on a Dell EMC PowerEdge* server, powered by two Intel® Xeon® processors E5-2680 v4, with 16 GB RAM, a 1.6 TB Intel® SSD DC P3700 Series drive, and a 375 GB Intel® Optane™ SSD DC P4800X Series drive. The researchers ran benchmark tests comparing multi-thread read/write times, while employing memory mapping to access a 12 GB file in 4 KB blocks, and then in 4 MB blocks.

For the 4 KB block-size test, the Intel® Optane™ SSD DC P4800X Series drive performed only 23 percent slower than using all DRAM. And when block size was increased to a more challenging 4 MB, the Intel® Optane™ SSD DC P4800X Series drive performed only 35 percent slower than using DRAM, whereas the Intel SSD DC P3700 Series drive performed 68 percent slower than using DRAM.1

The Technology: 

Intel Optane SSDs were the new technology used to enable this performance. Intel Optane Technology is a new memory media and firs of it's kind i nover 25 years.

Disruptive Factor: 

Intel Optane technology provides very low latency. As a result is it the fastest media on the market. This is how the University was able to achieve the MRI results from 40 to 2 min.

Shining Moment: 

The Unversity is working with GE to enable this new technology. Children who must get an MRI will now be free to having to under go an MRI for close to an hour as they will now only take 2-5 min.

About Your Organization

The University of Pisa is an Italian public research university located in Pisa, Italy. It was founded in 1343 by an edict of Pope Clement VI. It is the 19th oldest extant university in the world and the 10th oldest in Italy.