CU*Answers supports in-house credit unions test redundant data centers

On January 16, 2022, CU*Answers coordinated a live test of an in-house credit union’s high availability strategy by conducting a rollover for core processing services from the production data center outside of Portland, Maine, to the secondary data center located more 1,500 miles away in Yankton, South Dakota.

Core processing data is replicated in real time between data centers. On an annual basis, teams conduct a live “rollover” to direct network traffic to systems at the secondary site for a minimum of three business days before redirecting traffic back to the production data center.

CU*Answers provides core data processing services to a mix of online and in-house (self-processing) credit unions with a similar high availability strategy. All the experience and knowledge gained during regular core HA rollovers is shared across the network. “Serving members today requires a 24/7 availability strategy,” said Jim Lawrence, VP of Operations and Business Continuity. “Leveraging the resources across multiple participants enables us to provide a consistent and affordable solution for credit unions who maintain a larger IT footprint internally. Offering support for disaster recovery planning gives the credit union an added level of confidence in their capabilities during disruptive events and allows them to focus more on their mission to serve their communities.”

More about Business Continuity Services offered to both online and in-house credit unions by CU*Answers, including reports from recent recovery and rollover events, is available on their website.