Government Technology - November 2007 - (Page Symantec3)

mising the security of their applications and data. “We can go in, find out what customers want to accomplish and what their requirements are, and help design to that,” said Farmer. “Our standardization and flexibility allow customers a wider choice in some of their infrastructure and it also helps better protect their investment for the long term. If a new project or applica- Case Study Insuring Indiana hen Indiana decided to upgrade the state’s central data center in Indianapolis and eliminate the need for remote ofﬁces to back up data locally, the Indiana Ofﬁce of Technology (IOT) worked with Symantec during the consolidation initiative. The IOT is responsible for keeping the state’s IT operations online. As part of that mission, the ofﬁce must react quickly to any data loss so critical applications keep functioning correctly. Implementing that capability was a challenge, considering the fact that Indiana had 300 remote ofﬁces that backed up data locally. Add to that a data center with 400 servers, 8 terabytes of e-mail data and a diversiﬁed IT environment. IOT’s ﬁrst step toward better data protection was to consolidate and standardize to a single data center in Indianapolis. In the past, IOT ran a number of different operating systems on an array of different servers. To modernize its operations and maximize its resources, IOT began transitioning to a standard OS and standard server hardware. State ofﬁcials wanted to make sure all the work that was going into this project would not be compromised in the wake of a disaster. Ofﬁcials sought to ﬁt a disaster recovery and COOP plan into that effort by ﬁnding a provider that offered ﬂexible and affordable solutions. Symantec’s Veritas NetBackup software supports the diverse IT environment that existed in Indiana without requiring any additional or duplicate hardware. Furthermore, the software scales easily, meaning the 400 existing servers — plus up to 400 more that may be needed as the central data center grows — are well protected. In addition, Veritas NetBackup is helping IOT gain better control of the state’s e-mail. Nearly 40,000 W Implementing COOP and disaster recovery strategies as part of consolidation or upgrade projects reduces hardware costs. tion comes online, or in some cases, there is a consolidation, how easy is it to integrate a new department, a new application or bring in new infrastructure?” While COOP keeps systems running, there is always the chance, however rare, that a site could be wiped out entirely. What can be done to recover from such a disaster? If a disaster were to strike, Symantec solutions allow agencies to replicate data over IP locally as well as off site in any number of locations, regardless of distance. Using a software solution means no additional hardware is necessary. It operates across almost any SAN and can be scaled to any number of servers or applications. These features mean agencies can recover more quickly while simultaneously enhancing the reliability of disaster recovery strategies. And with Symantec, this all happens automatically. Administrators are immediately notified of any site failure, and the software will shift replication to backup sites while restarting critical applications and redirecting traffic. So even if a disaster takes down a site completely and it has to be rebuilt, Symantec helps keep data intact and secure. And because Symantec solutions work across platforms and hardware, administrators can quickly get their primary site up and running without the complications presented by specific hardware requirements. mailboxes exist within Indiana state government. These mailboxes store some 8 terabytes of data. To protect that data, NetBackup saves it to a virtual tape library and further protects the information by then writing it to actual tape. Indiana also uses NetBackup Shared Storage and Vault to help eliminate downtime and speed recovery. IOT ﬁeld ofﬁces beneﬁt from Symantec software as well. The consolidation effort meant that those 300 ﬁeld servers would be centralized in Indianapolis. As such, remote facilities no longer need to back up data locally. Veritas NetBackup PureDisk Remote Ofﬁce Edition backs up remote data at a central location, reducing cost and risk while saving the state money. “Veritas NetBackup PureDisk has given Indiana the ability to recover ﬁeld ofﬁce data in case of a disaster,” said Jim Rose, IOT’s systems administration manager. “That’s something we didn’t have before.” Indeed, Indiana already is reaping benefits from consolidating and standardizing its data center. IOT now remains within a 12-hour backup window without adding staff despite ever-increasing amounts of data. All told, IOT took 42 terabytes of data that once was stored in hundreds of servers in different locations and compressed that information to 1 terabyte in the Indianapolis data center. The new data protection architecture also enhanced data backup reliability — IOT boasts a 95 percent success rate when performing backups, compared to 50 percent before deploying the solution. Perhaps most impressive is the fact that two months after deploying Symantec software, the state of Indiana achieved a full return on its investment.

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - November 2007

Government Technology - November 2007 Contents Point of View Way Back Machine The Last Mile GT Spectrum Big Picture Building Better Government Up Close Inspector Gadget By the Numbers Money Talking No Greenwashing Pinching Pennies Bay Bridge Bustle Two Cents Products Signal: Noise

Government Technology - November 2007

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.