London taking DR for Olympics

ELVILLE, NEW YORK: FalconStor Software, Inc. announced that the Greater London Authority (GLA) implemented the FalconStor Network Storage Server (NSS) solution and FalconStor’s RecoverTrac technology to ensure disaster preparedness and to handle GLA’s significant data growth prior to the London Olympic Games.

The GLA replaced its tape-based backup and recovery system to ensure data availability and quick recovery in four hours or less, estimating a savings of approximately £90,000 ($139,000) annually, adds a press release.The GLA, which provides IT support and services to the mayor’s office and the London Assembly, implemented the disk-based backup technology to ensure complete data protection and business continuity for events such as the mayoral elections, the Royal Jubilee celebrations and the Olympic Games.

As further added: The authority worked with local storage integrator Cristie Data to deploy the RecoverTrac tool and FalconStor NSS, along with Nexsan storage, to give the organization storage virtualization, data replication and automated disaster recovery capabilities. With 60 terabytes of data and the eyes of the world focused on the city, GLA data is now replicated to an off-site data center and can be automatically recovered in the event of an IT disaster.

“Prior to the 2008 mayoral elections, a water main burst near City Hall and our power went out. Had it stayed out for much longer, it would have taken us three days to recover our data,” said David Munn, head of GLA information technology. “We could not risk something like that during the London Games or any other major event happening in 2012. FalconStor’s storage management and replication technology ensures that we can keep mission-critical data available, regardless of any disaster.”

The GLA estimates it will gain a full payback on its disaster recovery investment in four years. The organization now has quick recovery during data center outages, an 80 per cent reduction in energy consumption and a storage solution capable of accommodating continued data growth.

“A world-class city like London needs the protection of automated disaster recovery, particularly in a time of massive data growth and civic activity,” said Darrell Riddle, senior director of product marketing at FalconStor Software. “Unfortunately, there will not be any gold medal awarded for prudent data protection planning during the London Olympics — but if there were, the GLA would be in a strong position to win it. FalconStor ensures that anyone using GLA’s IT services during the Olympic games or for normal government operations is not left in the dark.”