WESCO Net, a Grand Rapids, MI based provider of advanced network technology solutions performed a successful high-availability test for Prospera Credit Union on December 5-8, 2009. Included in the testing was the credit union’s IBM System-I which runs CU*Answer’s CU*BASE core data processing solution, as well as audio response telephone banking and backup communications lines.
Prospera Credit Union, located in Appleton, WI, switched their entire daily processing to a mirror system hosted at WESCO Net, which is managed through WESCO Net’s I-Plan service. I-Plan features remote and on-site systems management services for IBM System-I (aka i-Series or AS/400) platforms including managed real-time data replication. Prospera Credit Union connected all branches, including Internet home banking and member audio response telephone banking system through the CU*NextNet network and effectively ran daily production from the remote datacenter for four days.
“This is a significant event because it highlights our ability to provide real-time business continuity services for credit unions. Data is replicated to the high-availability host at WESCO Net in near real time and rollovers can be accomplished very quickly. The result is that Prospera has the confidence of knowing that if they lose their processing facility, they can operate from ours without missing a beat,” stated Dave Wordhouse, VP of Network Technologies.
WESCO Net has spent several years developing and deploying an affective high availability and disaster recovery plan. The I-Plan service, inclusive of managed data replication, keeps critical information continuously protected and recovers lost data in a fraction of the time of traditional tape backup solutions.