One of the inherent successes of the Internet is that spreading servers around the globe prevents a total blackout.
Sun Microsystems Tuesday went one step further by introducing a strategy it said turns multiple data centers into one unified data center. The idea is to continue conducting business – “no matter what.”
The Palo Alto, Calif.-based networking giant partnered with Nortel Networks to unveil its new Enterprise Continuity program. Sun said its strategy uses dark fibre and Nortel Networks optical technologies.
The idea is that if one site goes down, transactions are automatically routed to the alternative sites without an application re-start or manual restore.
For example, a financial institution in New York could house its alternate facilities outside of Albany, in a more rural area, with a different climate, and less expensive real estate.
Sun’s Enterprise Continuity strategy includes its UltraSPARC processor-based servers, Sun StorEdge Open SAN Architecture, Sun StorEdge storage arrays and SunPlex clustering technology and Sun Services, along with Nortel Networks DWDM-based OPTera 5200 Multiservice Platform.
“As a result of data growing at amazing rates of 200-300 percent annually, many of our customers have had to expend significant resources to develop alternate data centers that, until now, could not provide the desired geographical distance and level of business continuance they need,” said Sun executive vice president Mark Canepa. “This offering was designed to decrease the financial stress imposed on our customers and will do so through delivering the products, architectural know-how and services needed to build and support this comprehensive solution.”
Also offered under the Enterprise Continuity program is Sun’s data continuance portfolio including storage area networks (SAN) that use optical technologies to extend for distance, off-site back-up, mirroring, point-in-time copy, and remote replication, as well as proactive services and support.
Sun said the service and corresponding software would be marketed to industry segments such as financial services, government, healthcare and retail.
Downtime can be extremely expensive. The latest stats from the Meta Group estimates the average cost in revenue per hour of downtime in a financial services company is $1,495,000, and $1,107,000 for a retail site.