ABN Amro improves storage performance

Banking group uses migration tools to cut time spent backing up systems

Global banking group ABN Amro has introduced data migration software to remove performance bottlenecks from its storage systems.

The financial services company is deploying the software tool to ensure business-critical data can be migrated to back-up systems, while keeping applications running when data is being moved.

‘We acquired the data migration software because there were no longer sufficient time slots available to perform all the necessary data migrations offline,’ said Ad van Leeuwen, ABN Amro senior systems designer.

‘We were facing the constraints of finding enough available time slots in the service windows to do the migration.’

The firm is an early adopter of Softek’s Transparent Data Migration Facility (TDMF) software for Unix-based applications.

‘The software decreases the number of comparatively expensive weekend hours required to carry out data migrations offline. It has enabled us to speed up the time it takes to do data migration from weeks to days,’ said van Leeuwen.

He says the business case for investing in the software rested on proving that TDMF migrations could be carried out without risk while applications were still operating.

‘We are expecting the software to realise significant improvements in overall system performance during primary operational hours,’ he said.

The product has been successfully tested on an HP Integrity Superdome server attached to IBM storage arrays, handling the vast amounts of transactional data ABN Amro needed to store securely.

‘We plan to deploy TDMF across all our Unix servers as a tool for load balancing and to enhance our application service level agreements,’ said van Leeuwen.