cuasterisk.comWESCO Net, a Grand Rapids, MI based leader in network integration, security, and managed technology solutions, and CU*Answers, a 40 yr-old data processing CUSO, have successfully tested a new disaster recovery implementation for their online banking solution, It’s Me 247. For the test, a back-end IBM System-i mid-range computer system was recovered at an IBM Business Recovery and Continuity Services Center while web traffic for the online banking site was served out of WESCO Net’s newly launched Muskegon data center.“This is a significant test for CU*Answers and WESCO Net because it certifies our ability to serve core Internet online banking capabilities to credit union members in the event of a catastrophic disaster that knocks our other data centers offline,” says Dave Wordhouse, VP Network Technologies.
“The solution actually blurs the lines between disaster recovery and business continuity for It’s Me 247 as the environment hosted at the Muskegon data center is able to connect to back-end IBM System-i hosts installed at other CU*Answers and WESCO Net data centers on-demand.” Dave Wordhouse continues, “We’ve actually modeled the disaster recovery online banking network after our production network so that regardless of where the member access It’s Me 247, the member should enjoy the same overall performance.”
According to Wordhouse, the standby It’s Me 247 site could be activated anytime in less than 10 minutes to handle a failure of the production site. The cutover would be nearly transparent to members.
CU*Answers and WESCO Net have long championed highly available applications and its core application, CU*BASE, has been protected by highly available infrastructure since 2002. Investments will continue to be made to extend highly available capabilities across the CU*Answers suite of core applications.
About the Partner
WESCO Net
Organized in 2002, WESCO Net is a full-service network technology solutions provider. They
specialize in LAN/WAN design, implementation and management; network security; firewall
management; IP telephony VOIP (voice-over-Internet protocol) solutions; records management;
managed hosting solutions (facilities management), compliance and security audits
(HIPAA/GLBA/SOX); high availability solutions; web site engineering, and hardware sales and
support services. WESCO Net provides services to the education, retail, legal, medical, real
estate, hospitality, and financial services industries as well as court systems and regional
municipalities. Its financial services portfolio includes servicing over 100 credit unions across the
country. Visit wesconet.com for more information.
