Banking On Low-Cost Data Mirroring

As financial-services companies do more business online, the cost of systems outages grows. Ohio Savings Bank, one of the nation's top 10 mortgage lenders, understands those risks. As the bank expands its online brokerage operations, it needs to ensure that its agents and customers can always access information sitting in an Oracle database, says Mark Gibaldi, director of IT infrastructure.

The bank installed a data-mirroring system, which Gibaldi says is something "you must have," to keep its backup systems up to date. "But you still want to find the most cost-effective method," he says.

The bank has deployed UltraNet Edge Storage routers from CNT, formerly Computer Network Technology, and Brocade Fibre Channel switches to transport mirrored data, using EMC's Symmetrix Remote Data Facility, between two sites via a low-cost Gigabit Ethernet link. Before deploying this system, the bank says it would have had to use Fibre Channel or other high-speed network links that cost five to 10 times as much.

The move shows that the cost of data mirroring is coming down, Yankee Group analyst Jamie Gruener says. "Until now, it's been purely a large-company play," he says. "CNT is now selling the infrastructure for such mirroring to much smaller companies."