BrightStor Enterprise Backup ensures e-business continuity for Hemisphere National Bank

Computer Associates International, Inc (CA) has announced that Hemisphere National Bank (HNB), a leading provider of traditional and electronic banking services, is utilising BrightStor Enterprise Backup to minimise backup and recovery windows and ensure the enterprise-wide availability of its growing data stores, delivering continuous e-business operations.

The high performance and unmatched throughput speeds of BrightStor Enterprise Backup are being leveraged to support HNB`s expansion into the burgeoning Internet banking market, enabling it to comply with the financial industry`s stringent requirements for storage while preparing it to provide 24x7 computing capabilities for an international client base.

With support for the NDMP protocol, BrightStor Enterprise Backup is helping to minimise network traffic by performing high-speed backups of the bank`s NetApp filers directly to network-attached servers. This capability also enables HNB to minimise total cost of ownership by meeting its growing volume requirements without saturating its backbone resources. Centralised management capabilities of BrightStor further enhance both performance and cost containment by providing integrated information on storage policies and resources, reducing the administrative burden on IT staff.

"BrightStor Enterprise Backup is enabling us to meet our mandate for e-business growth by safeguarding our large data stores within a shrinking backup window, and by providing a high level of access without compromising operational performance," said Miguel Morera, CIO, Hemisphere National Bank. "We see BrightStor as not just an indispensable part of our storage infrastructure, but as a key-enabling technology with which we can confidently expand into new market segments."

The BrightStor implementation within HNB`s network-attached storage (NAS) environment was installed and is managed by Aspedient Technologies, a leading managed service provider (MSP). A CA-certified MSP, Aspedient monitors HNB`s storage resources and provides predictive management capabilities powered by CA`s Unicenter from its Miami-based network operations centre (NOC).

"Powered by CA tools, we provide a second pair of eyes to make sure HNB is meeting its storage challenges and running with optimal e-business efficiency," said Tony Silva, CEO, Aspedient Technologies. These services, in turn, enable Aspedient to bring added value to its standard set of MSP offerings."

Currently, Aspedient monitors backup and restore processes from HNB`s remote branches to the Bank`s central data centre, ensuring the speedy completion of jobs. The MSP also monitors HNB`s NAS resources for disk capacity, making recommendations on when to resize servers to maintain performance. As HNB moves forward with its plans to provide Internet banking and service international customers, Aspedient anticipates a dramatic increase in the Bank`s storage requirements, making the efficient use of its infrastructure and personnel even more critical.

"As we expand into these exciting new markets, we will become an institution without borders or time zones," said Morera. "We view BrightStor as key to our success in its unlimited scalability, its ease of administration, and its ability to provide uninterrupted access to data. Combined with the management functions provided by Aspedient, BrightStor`s capabilities have freed us up to concentrate on our strategic growth, with the knowledge that our supporting storage infrastructure is built on a solid foundation."