West LB Implements Advanced Information Storage Solution from EMC Corporation

Strategic Insights -

West LB, Germany's third-largest commercial bank, has deployed an advanced information storage solution from EMC Corporation to ensure business continuance in the event of a natural or man-made break in computer operations. The new system includes EMC's Symmetrix 5000 family Integrated Cached Disk Arrays (ICDA) and Symmetrix Remote Data Facility (SRDF). To test the system's reliability, West LB recently severed its live production computing operations from its remote data center, recovering its 2.3-terabyte database in under two minutes and returning all subsystems and applications to full operation in under 90 minutes.

Key Takeaways:

  • West LB, a 2.3-terabyte database, recovered all data in under two minutes using EMC's SRDF.
  • The entire computing operations of West LB are now supported by EMC's information storage systems.
  • West LB estimates a single day of downtime would represent millions of dollars in lost business, two days would cause irreparable damage to some departments, and three days would put their entire business in jeopardy.
  • SRDF is designed to eliminate customers' exposure to costly and potentially devastating events, such as software failures, data migrations, and systems upgrades.
  • The SRDF Extended Distance option allows customers to strategically locate their remote site virtually anywhere in the world.
  • EMC's SRDF leverages the world's highest performing data storage systems, the Symmetrix family of ICDA systems, and performs remote mirroring without intervention from the host computer.
  • The features of SRDF offer customers increased efficiencies in CPU utilization and significant performance improvements for business-critical applications.
  • EMC Corporation is a world leader in the field of information storage and retrieval technology, designing systems for mainframe, midrange, and open systems computing environments.
  • The company has offices worldwide and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EMC.

Statistics:

  • 2.3 terabytes: size of West LB's database.
  • 2 minutes: time it took West LB to recover all data using EMC's SRDF.
  • 90 minutes: time it took West LB to return all subsystems and applications to full operation after a remote data center break.
  • Millions of dollars: estimated daily loss for West LB due to downtime.
  • 2 days: time frame after which irreparable damage to some departments occurs.
  • 3 days: time frame after which West LB's entire business is at jeopardy.

Sources:

  • WestLB implements advanced information storage solution from EMC Corporation, Business Wire, August 23, 1995.
  • David Farmer, EMC Corporation, 508-435-1000 ext. 7206, as cited in the press release.