MidAmerica Bank implements information lifecycle management with EMC

EMC Corporation today announced that MidAmerica Bank, a subsidiary of MAF Bancorp and one of the Midwest`s largest financial institutions, has embarked on a comprehensive information lifecycle management (ILM) strategy based on EMC`s tiered networked storage, information management software and professional services.

Through intelligent data classification and by aligning its IT infrastructure to address the changing value of information over time, MidAmerica has already significantly lowered costs and enhanced customer service.

Ken Rusdal, MidAmerica`s Senior Vice President, said: "Our customers depend on us to rapidly process loans and provide reliable access to account information and 24-hour ATM transactions. To meet these objectives and help us reduce our operational costs, EMC provided the most comprehensive, integrated offering with the range of capabilities we needed to execute our ILM strategy."

EMC`s proven, tiered networked storage and information management software are the foundation of MidAmerica`s ILM strategy. Bank statements, check images, loan documents and other critical customer information are handled by MidAmerica`s top tier of high-performance storage. Over time, as this information becomes less critical and is accessed less frequently, it is moved to lower-cost mid-tier storage.

Once a cheque clears or a loan closes and becomes "Fixed Content", MidAmerica uses content-addressed storage (CAS) to archive these images for up to seven years and comply with federal retention regulations. Through CAS alone, MidAmerica has cut SAN storage requirements for imaging in half and freed up valuable high-end space for more frequently accessed data.

To reduce management overhead and optimise asset utilisation, MidAmerica uses EMC software to assess and provide detailed information on storage utilisation, performance and retention requirements. Based on these metrics, MidAmerica then allocates storage based on the value of information to maximise availability, storage resources and application performance. For example, because performance requirements are less stringent at the branch level, MidAmerica moves branch data from high-end, mission-critical storage systems to more cost effective, mid-tier storage systems. In addition, to protect its business-critical information and strengthen its business continuity environment, MidAmerica also uses EMC replication software to mirror data across long distances, as well as produce local copies for high-end, mid-tier and archived applications.

Paul Stonchus, MidAmerica`s First Vice-President and Data Center Manager, said: "With increased visibility into our IT infrastructure, we`ve been able to manage dramatic storage growth while implementing a sophisticated ILM environment. We`ve gone from 3TB of direct-attached storage in a single data centre to 26TB of multi-tier networked storage across two mirrored sites. And, we did it all without hiring additional storage administrators. In fact, thanks to EMC software, our entire storage infrastructure is managed by just two people. On a daily basis, we only need one person because the system is so self-sustaining."

MidAmerica enlisted EMC Global Services to design and implement its new ILM infrastructure, as well as assess and define its business continuity requirements. This infrastructure is tiered across EMC Symmetrix, EMC CLARiiON with Fibre and ATA storage, as well as Centera Content Addressed Storage. To more effectively manage and protect data across the various storage tiers, the bank has deployed EMC`s storage and information management software, including EMC ControlCenter, EMC SRDF, EMC TimeFinder, EMC MirrorView, EMC SnapView and EMC PowerPath for business continuity, protection and recovery; EMC Navisphere and LEGATO DiskXtender for comprehensive storage and information management.