Clinical Research on a Global Level

Celerion, a leader in early clinical research delivers Applied Translational Medicine. Headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska, the company applies expertise to research discoveries, knowledge of drug effect, and clinical pharmacology.

Conceived over 50 years ago as a family business, Celerion maintains locations in Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Richmond, Virginia, as well as abroad in Belfast, Zurich, Vienna, Berlin, Paris and Montreal.

“Celerion helps clients bring drugs to market faster, at the best possible cost,” said Traci Chapek, Celerion Executive Director for Global IT. “We achieve this using state-of-the-art software applications that capture data quickly, correctly and enable realtime results for clients to review. If results aren’t as expected, clients can elect to halt testing and avoid further costs as soon as possible. With more than 600 global clinic beds.

Celerion conducts and analyzes a wide variety of clinical pharmacology studies. The company provides expertise in simulation, study design, medical writing (protocols and reports), clinical data sciences, biostatistics, and more.

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Revitalized Technology

After its divestiture in 2010, Celerion revamped many internal processes, including IT. Through this revitalization, the company was able to interview and evaluate providers.

“We are not an IT shop; we do clinical research,” said Chapek. “We wanted
to reduce capital expenditure, and avoid the challenges of an in-house data center. Rackspace quickly floated to the top of our choices. We started with just a few servers hosted in a Rackspace environment.”

“We deal with medical records and personal information, so our ‘raw data’ 
is our lifeline,” said Matt Hermanson, Celerion Enterprise Infrastructure Manager. “From a security perspective, Rackspace has helped us by providing solid expertise and saying to us, “People in your space are doing ‘X,’ so here’s something that we would recommend.’ Or they’ll say, ‘Here are areas where you may be falling short; did you know there’s a deficiency?’ We’re a small staff, and it’s important to have additional sets of eyes and ears to help us.

Celerion has since added many more servers, and its core applications run out of the Rackspace environment.

The organization we worked with was in a critical situation. Faced with the need to significantly reduce capital expenditures, it was also grappling with the complexities of managing an in-house data center. These complexities included everything from the sheer logistical challenges of day-to-day operations to the recruitment and retention of skilled IT personnel.

The situation was further compounded by the high stakes of ensuring client security and uptime reliability. In an era where data breaches are both costly and damaging to a company's reputation, maintaining client security was not just a priority—it was a necessity. Additionally, in their line of business, downtime could result in significant loss of revenue and client trust.

Enter Vinco, a boutique IT consulting firm with a brand essence of creating repeatable, transparent, and ethical outcomes. We positioned ourselves as the trusted partner and thought leader the organization needed to navigate these challenges.

The organization we worked with was in a critical situation. Faced with the need to significantly reduce capital expenditures, it was also grappling with the complexities of managing an in-house data center. These complexities included everything from the sheer logistical challenges of day-to-day operations to the recruitment and retention of skilled IT personnel.

The situation was further compounded by the high stakes of ensuring client security and uptime reliability. In an era where data breaches are both costly and damaging to a company's reputation, maintaining client security was not just a priority—it was a necessity. Additionally, in their line of business, downtime could result in significant loss of revenue and client trust.

Enter Vinco, a boutique IT consulting firm with a brand essence of creating repeatable, transparent, and ethical outcomes. We positioned ourselves as the trusted partner and thought leader the organization needed to navigate these challenges.