Raiffeisen Krekova Banka Credits FalconStor With Data Protection
MARIBOR, SLOVENIA, November 29, 2005-FalconStor Software, Inc. (Nasdaq: FALC), a leading developer of network storage software solutions, today announced that Slovenian financial institution Raiffeisen Krekova Banka (RKB) has installed an IPStorÃ’ solution to add both business continuity and disaster recovery capabilities to its Fibre Channel SAN. The IPStor software solution was implemented by FalconStor channel partner Evertec Technology.
As the Slovenian financial institution was experiencing rapid data growth, their main focus became the protection of their application data. RKB wanted to make sure they had a solid data protection plan in place for their Oracle, Lotus Notes, and Microsoft SQL databases in any case of disruption. Another important criterion for any potential solution was that it work seamlessly with the various operating systems in use at RKB: Microsoft Windows, Sun Solaris, SUSE Linux, IBM AIX, and HP Tru64 and OpenVMS. After conferring with Evertec on prospective solutions, RKB decided on FalconStor's IPStor software.
"We chose the IPStor solution because it provides us an effective solution for both disaster recovery and business continuity. This has also helped us achieve our objectives while spending less than if we had bought separate point products," said Mitja Lorencak, system administrator at RKB. "We also anticipate future cost savings since IPStor software works with heterogeneous storage, giving us a wide choice of storage arrays to use when we need more disk capacity."
RKB has configured its IPStor software-based disaster recovery solution to include asynchronous mirroring and database-aware snapshots for transactional integrity. The financial institution wanted the ability to use these services together to defend against both unexpected outages and cumulative rolling disasters, without the expense or integration of additional software or hardware.
RKB uses asynchronous mirroring to maintain a low-loss mirror copy of its data store at their secondary data center. This is complemented with the use of TimeMarkÃ’, working in conjunction with IPStor software's database Snapshot Agents, which ensure the transactional integrity and point-in-time consistency of RKB's Oracle, Notes and SQL applications during data replication. If necessary, RKB can promote a data replica to production status, while using TimeMark snapshots to roll back in time until a good data state is found. RKB also leverages TimeMark to perform daily backups to tape. The point-in-time image copies are assigned to their respective backup servers.
"One of IPStor software's great advantages is its flexibility, as it addresses a host of tasks such as consolidation, backup, disaster recovery, business continuity and SAN management," said Guy Berlo, Regional Director, Central Region of FalconStor Software. "IPStor software's storage services, and its ability to work with different storage arrays and operating systems, proved to be the deciding factors in RKB's choice to implement FalconStor technology."
Other components in RKB's storage environment include 30 servers and HP StorageWorks Enterprise Virtual Arrays (3000 and 5000 series), with an average data growth of one terabyte per year.
About Raiffeisen Krekova Banka
Raiffeisen Krekova banka d.d. was established in 1992 and is the ninth largest bank in Slovenia, with 12 outlets throughout the country and a staff of more than 340 (November 2005). Its total assets amounted to approximately SIT 159 billion as of year-end 2004.
On June 18, 2002, it efficiently merged with Raiffeisen International Beteiligungs AG (RIB AG), which became the majority owner of Krekova banka. Its name was changed to Raiffeisen Krekova banka.
Raiffeisen Krekova Banka is the base of RZB's Slovenian banking activities. Its current main business lines are retail and corporate banking. These will be extended and strengthened substantially. For more information, visit www.r-kb.si.
About FalconStor
FalconStor Software, Inc. (Nasdaq: FALC) is a leading developer of innovative network storage software that optimizes the protection and availability of enterprise and SMB data and applications, ensuring nonstop business productivity while simplifying storage and backup management to reduce operational costs. FalconStor's award-winning solutions-IPStorÃ’ Enterprise Edition, VirtualTape Library, and iSCSI Storage Server-are available from major OEMs, system integrators, and resellers, and are deployed worldwide by governments, educational institutions, and Fortune 1000 enterprises across industries including aerospace, energy production, financial services, healthcare, law, manufacturing, and telecommunications.
FalconStor is headquartered in Melville, NY, with offices throughout Europe and the Asia Pacific regions including Paris, Tokyo and Taiwan. FalconStor is an active member of the Technical Support Alliance Network (TSANet), Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) and Fibre Channel Industry Association (FCIA). For more information, visit www.falconstor.com or call 1-866-NOW-FALC (866-669-3252).
