Banks and insurance companies process large amounts of data in countless transactions every day. ReiseBank AG – Germany's market leader in travel payment methods – is no exception. In addition to so-called hot data (data that is actively 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 accessible 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. It also leads to significant delays in backups or in the event of a disaster recovery. Valuable time for a company whose business model is primarily based 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. It was preferred to be a software-based solution. "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 offloading process, and thus the reduction of primary storage load, should run in the background based on rules. Access to archived data should remain transparent for users without changing their usual workflows. "It quickly became clear to us that only a few providers were suitable. We quickly chose PoINT Storage Manager," explains Jörg-Peter Levin. The data and storage management solution from PoINT Software & Systems GmbH in Siegen is particularly suitable for migrating and archiving large volumes of unstructured data to secondary or archive storage in multi-tiered storage architectures.
After the test phase, a two-tier storage architecture was chosen. 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 the 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 the 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 can be further utilized. 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 from expensive primary storage while maintaining the same file system structure. Faster access and processing times while simultaneously reducing the required bandwidth in the storage network.
Drastic reduction in backup and recovery times
Efficient file lifecycle management
