Banks and insurance companies process large amounts of data in countless transactions every day. This is also the case at ReiseBank AG – Germany's market leader in travel payment methods. In addition to so-called hot data (data that is actively being processed), a company like ReiseBank generates a great deal of cold (inactive) data. This data must be secured in accordance with legal requirements, but also quickly made available again when needed.
Dipl.-Ing. Jörg-Peter Levin is Key Account Manager & Manager Operations at Cristie Data GmbH: "Large amounts of inactive data are taking up more and more storage space on ReiseBank AG's network drives. This is not only a major cost factor, but also causes significant delays in backups or in the event of a disaster recovery. Valuable time for a company whose business model primarily relies on real-time transactions."
The financial institution was looking for a solution for the automated archiving of data that no longer requires access or only rarely requires access. A software-based solution was preferred. "Our many years of experience with numerous banks and insurance companies helped us quickly recommend the right solution," emphasizes Cristie Managing Director Volker Wester.
The swapping process, and thus the reduction of primary storage load, was to run in the background based on rules. Users had to continue to have transparent access to archived data without changing their usual workflows.
"It quickly became clear to us that only a few providers were suitable. The choice quickly fell on PoINT Storage Manager," explains Jörg-Peter Levin. The data and storage management solution from Siegen-based PoINT Software & Systems GmbH is particularly well-suited for migrating and archiving large amounts of unstructured data to secondary or archive storage in multi-tiered storage architectures.
After the test phase, the decision was made to implement a two-tier storage architecture. The specialist departments continue to access their data using their usual applications. With PoINT Storage Manager, the directory entries remain on the primary storage system. The file contents are migrated to the archive storage. This process fully preserves the original file system structure. When a file is accessed, it is automatically read from the archive storage and transferred to the application.
Moving the file contents to archive storage relieves the load on the storage network and primary storage. Hans Hohenwarter, System Operations Team Leader at ReiseBank AG, is relieved: "We are now particularly relaxed about the growth in data volume. With the new architecture and PoINT Storage Manager, we are well positioned. Furthermore, we can effectively counteract rising costs, for example, for fast storage media."
Another advantage of the new architecture is the significant reduction in backup and recovery times. Rapid recovery of strategically important data is mission-critical for service providers like ReiseBank AG. Furthermore, existing resources could continue to be used. The Storage Manager supports storage media regardless of manufacturer.
Due to the flexible configuration and easy expansion options, Cristie Data GmbH and ReiseBank AG have found a long-term solution for storage and data management with the PoINT Storage Manager.
Advantages of the solution at a glance:
- Immediate relief of expensive primary storage with unchanged file system structure
- Faster access and processing times while reducing the required bandwidth in the storage network
- Drastic reduction of backup and restore times
- Efficient file lifecycle management
