In today’s era of deeply integrated digital and intelligent healthcare, hospital information systems have become the “central nervous system” of clinical services. They not only support the efficient operation of daily hospital activities but are also directly tied to patient safety and quality of care.
Info2soft has partnered with The Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University (hereinafter referred to as “GMU Affiliated Hospital”) to build a full-stack remote disaster recovery system tailored to real-world healthcare scenarios—setting a practical benchmark for medical data security across Southwest China.
Overview of the Hospital
Founded in 1941, GMU Affiliated Hospital is a top-tier Grade A tertiary hospital in Guizhou Province, widely known as the “Little PUMCH.” Since its establishment, the hospital has adopted advanced management philosophies from Peking Union Medical College Hospital, attracting leading medical professionals. After more than 80 years of development, it has become a core pillar of healthcare services in Southwest China.
- Annual outpatient and emergency visits exceed 2.61 million
- Annual surgeries reach 38,000, with 58.3% classified as high-difficulty (Grade III/IV) procedures
- Handles over 90% of critical and complex referral cases across the province
A Fully Digitalized Clinical System Landscape
Today, the hospital’s core operations are fully digitized. Foundational systems such as EMR, HIS, LIS, and PACS, along with specialized systems for ICU, ECG, triage, anesthesia, blood transfusion, pathology, and traceability, form a network of 25 medical information systems—the hospital’s “digital backbone.”
For a large tertiary hospital of this scale, high availability of clinical systems, database consistency, and uninterrupted business operations are non-negotiable.
Typical Disaster Recovery Challenges
Despite being equipped with high-performance infrastructure such as Huawei all-flash storage systems, and running production environments on platforms like VMware and Huawei virtualization, the hospital still faced several common DR challenges:
- Complex system landscape with incomplete backup coverage
Interdependencies between applications and databases created blind spots in traditional DR approaches. - Underutilized hardware resources
Although DR facilities existed, the lack of unified planning and orchestration led to idle resources. - Lack of real-time disaster recovery for critical systems
Systems such as ICU and anesthesia cannot tolerate even minutes of downtime, yet traditional backup methods could not support rapid failover. - Stringent compliance requirements
Level 5 EMR evaluation mandates strict standards for remote DR, data continuity, and security, making DR construction a necessity rather than an option.
A Layered DR Strategy Tailored for Healthcare
Healthcare scenarios demand differentiated protection strategies:
- Core clinical systems require 24/7 real-time DR
- General systems prioritize data backup and recovery
- Large-scale virtual environments require precise protection scope definition
Based on extensive industry experience, Info2soft proposed a layered, refined, and highly practical DR architecture:
Pre-Sales Phase: Building Trust Through Precision
- Conducted in-depth analysis of all 25 systems, including business logic and data flows
- Performed multiple joint technical demonstrations to validate feasibility in real scenarios
Implementation Phase: Efficient and Targeted Deployment
1. Precise Scope Definition
- Assessed and filtered 700 virtual machines
- Identified key protection targets
- Successfully deployed DR for 25 core systems across 40+ servers, covering ICU, ECG, anesthesia, endoscopy, and more
2. Layered Technology Matching
- i2Availability: High-availability DR for critical databases and application servers, enabling seamless failover
- i2CDP: Real-time backup and point-in-time recovery for 60 database servers, ensuring zero data loss
- i2VP: Agentless backup for 200 virtual machines, simplifying operations and improving efficiency
- i2Backup: Scheduled backup and recovery for 15 general databases, balancing protection and resource utilization
3. High-Performance Network Architecture
- Established a 100 Gbps high-speed interconnection
- Leveraged VXLAN technology to ensure low-latency, high-stability data synchronization between production and DR centers
4. Real-World Simulation and Collaboration
- Built a cloned production environment for full-scale DR simulation
- Enabled deep involvement of the hospital’s IT team, transforming them into active co-builders of the solution
Beyond Compliance: Building a True Medical Safety Net
This collaboration not only enabled the hospital to meet Level 5 EMR compliance requirements but also fundamentally strengthened its data security and operational resilience, delivering four key values:
- Compliance Assurance
A complete and traceable DR system fully meets regulatory requirements - Capability Upgrade
A unified DR framework covering database backup, full-system protection, and core system failover ensures “zero data loss and zero downtime.” - Structured Planning
Transforms DR construction from fragmented to systematic, guiding future IT development - Resource Optimization
Maximizes the value of existing high-performance hardware, reducing overall IT investment costs
Conclusion
The GMU Affiliated Hospital case demonstrates that effective disaster recovery in healthcare cannot rely solely on hardware investment. It requires deep alignment with clinical workflows, system dependencies, and real-world operational needs, combined with a customized and layered strategy.
With years of experience in the healthcare sector, Info2soft remains committed to delivering end-to-end solutions—from backup to disaster recovery, from data security to business continuity.
Looking ahead, Info2soft will continue to work closely with healthcare institutions to build robust, practical, and intelligent DR systems, ensuring that every clinical service is backed by reliable data protection.