Ensuring Non-Stop Access to Customer-Friendly Banking Services

Overview

Challenge

• While moving to a new state-of-the-art headquarters, Discount Bank needed to move mission-critical storage data infrastructure without impacting customer experience services.

Solution

• Minimized risk via scenario planning, instant failover and resync with global-active device, followed by seamless upgrade to Hitachi VSP 5000 Series.

Outcome

• Ensured customers enjoyed non-stop access to banking services during the process while improving performance and reducing data center footprint and costs.

Challenge

One of the top five banks in Israel, Discount Bank is renowned for delivering user-friendly services that help customers build a brighter future for their families. Recently, the bank unveiled plans to move its headquarters from Tel Aviv to a new state-of-the-art campus at Rishon LeZion, eight kilometers south, featuring smart technologies to foster employee collaboration and innovation.

The move had major implications for the bank’s IT infrastructure. For nearly eight years, the bank used Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform (VSP) systems to support core applications, including online and branch-based banking systems. During the previous upgrade, they implemented VSP G1500 arrays at their three data centers, using global-active device to create an active-active setup across two main locations — one in Tel Aviv — with asynchronous data replication to a third site in northern Israel.

With operations closing in Tel Aviv, Discount Bank planned to create a new data center at Rishon LeZion to house the critical customer facing applications and data services. But the relocation process posed major logistical and technical challenges.

First, there was a risk of damage to the physical hardware during transit to the new site. The bank would have to rely on their second production data center to run key applications during the move. Any outages or glitches would severely disrupt customer experience/services. While there would be the option to restore data from the third site in northern Israel, it would take considerable time.

So, how could Discount Bank safeguard business continuity during the move from Tel Aviv to Rishon LeZion and prevent any negative impact on customers and internal users?

Solution

To support the move to the new site, Discount Bank enlisted support from trusted infrastructure partner Hitachi Vantara. Over three months, they worked together to mitigate risk during the data center relocation, including detailed scenario planning and what-if analysis.

Lior Basali, Storage and Backup Administrator, Technology Division at Discount Bank, explained, “To maintain business continuity, we decided to use a new storage system and to create another copy of all the data in the systems being moved to the new data center. So, if there was a problem at the second site during the transportation of the existing storage, we could return to routine activity very quickly.”

To execute the plan, the bank deployed a Hitachi VSP 5600 array, and used Hitachi Universal Replicator to copy data from the Tel Aviv site. The VSP 5600 system was then connected to the bank’s production servers, enabling instant failover in case of outage at the second data center during relocation.

Discount Bank then proceeded with the relocation. As a first step, Hitachi Vantara removed the Hitachi VSP G1500 systems in Tel Aviv, before transporting them to Rishon LeZion, connecting power supplies and networking, then re-syncing with the second data center using global-active device. The whole process took less than 12 hours.

Once completed, Discount Bank decided to upgrade their entire storage infrastructure, using Hitachi VSP 5000 Series arrays to improve performance and efficiency. They implemented two Hitachi VSP 5600s in two production data centers, plus two VSP 5500s at the third remote site.

Discount Bank also added Hitachi Ops Center Analyzer software to monitor performance trends across the storage environment and optimize resource planning. Alongside this, the bank uses Smart Automation Manager for Hitachi (SAM4H) from Hitachi Vantara partner peaq GmbH, which enables storage administrators to set daily replication policies and manage the active-active setup, and to allocate capacity efficiently.

Risk was minimized by creating a copy of all data being relocated, before upgrading the whole infrastructure using Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform 5000 Series arrays. Seamless planning and execution whilst also maintaining business continuity by enabling instant failover in the event of outage, and re-syncing systems with global-active device, all in under 12 hours.

Outcome

Working with Hitachi Vantara, Discount Bank seamlessly relocated their data infrastructure from Tel Aviv to the new Rishon LeZion data center. Throughout the process, the bank-maintained business as usual operations and services, with core applications remaining online and customers transacting online and in branches.

Avi Mordoh, Storage and Backup Team Leader, Technology Division at Discount Bank, said “We are talking about a complex project. We had to make sure that all the data was transferred in a safe and secure manner. Thanks to Hitachi’s solutions, the transition was smooth without downtime, and without any interruption to ongoing activity and without affecting the activities of our internal users and customers.”

The upgrade to the Hitachi VSP 5000 Series arrays is also providing significant operational and financial benefits. Avi Mordoh notes, “By purchasing the new systems, we achieved two things: increasing resiliency during the transition and replacing old systems with the newest versions from Hitachi Vantara.”

The flexible scale-out capability of the Hitachi VSP 5600 systems will now help Discount Bank expand its capacity to manage rapidly growing data volumes in the coming years. The upgrade also means the bank has moved from hybrid storage to all-flash arrays equipped with NVMe SSDs, boosting performance, and reducing application response times. — Which helps ensure a better experience for internal users and customers.

The new storage is also enabling the bank to unlock efficiencies across all three data centers. The more powerful VSP 5000 Series arrays require 60% less rack space than the older systems, significantly reducing power and cooling requirements and costs. Similarly, Hitachi Ops Center and SAM4H are simplifying everyday storage management, saving valuable time for administrators.

William Baransi, IT Operational Director, Technology Division at Discount Bank concludes, “Our data is extremely important to us and to our customers. That is why we must ensure that we have an infrastructure that will enable financial growth and data protection. Thanks to the support and availability of the Hitachi team, we can be sure that we have the best infrastructure for our future needs and those of our customers. This is a true partnership.”