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Insulectro Illustrates Reliability of MIMIX High Availability
Industry's Leading Printed Circuit Board Materials and Tool Supplier Conducts Monthly Role Swaps to Keep Global Systems Available
| Source: Vision Solutions
IRVINE, CA--(Marketwire - April 14, 2008) - Vision Solutions, the leading high availability
and disaster recovery solutions provider in IBM Power Systems markets
(NYSE : IBM ), today announced new evidence that its enterprise-class MIMIX HA for i5/OS can easily and quickly execute multiple
role swaps.
Insulectro, headquartered in Lake Forest, California, recently implemented
a high availability strategy that relies on MIMIX HA for i5/OS. The company
generates $170 million in annual revenue through 24 facilities throughout
the world, including operations in the United States and China. With Vision
Solutions' software, Insulectro has minimized exposure to business losses
while enhancing customer service throughout the world. To ensure 24/7
reliability, Insulectro has performed 20 role swaps in the past four months
-- each took less than ten minutes to complete.
"On a scale of one to ten with ten being perfect, our level of readiness to
role swap production and backup processes is at level ten," says Aun Qadir,
Insulectro's manager of system operations. "In fact, when troubleshooting
problems with applications, I will often role swap systems to see if the
problem also exists on the twin server. It usually doesn't, but what's
important is I can have users back into the application much faster than
troubleshooting a problem while they wait. We can do this largely because
MIMIX HA for i5/OS is so stable."
The Vision Solutions software
accommodated to Insulectro's automated operations scheme with APIs --
including a console management system automating a wide variety of
operational tasks. "Our internally developed message monitor and system
console does what a human does," says Qadir. "When we first conceived of
this system it only managed four tasks and now it manages 80."
Insulectro now has two IBM 520s situated at facilities in Lake Forest,
California and Bloomingdale, Illinois. Both machines are running
Insulectro's internally developed ERP system, bar code printing software,
and other core business systems. To synchronize the databases of these
servers, they use MIMIX HA for i5/OS. The System i model 520s
are connected by a dedicated T1 with a Cisco router on each end delivering
continuous 4-to-1 data compression.
Insulectro's Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Dan Diesel,
insisted that the solution chosen should allow for fully automated
switches, and that the switches be performed at least once per month. "For
a solution to be proven it must be continually tested," says Diesel. "I did
not want a solution that we tested once, and then wait for a disaster to
see if it worked."
They selected a turnkey solution, so a specialist from Vision Solutions'
professional services group went to Insulectro's facility in California.
Vision's specialist installed MIMIX HA and worked with Diesel's team to
integrate this solution with their console management system. At the end of
the fifth day, all of the key management metrics in MIMIX HA for i5/OS were being monitored automatically and
triggers were setup to react to anomalies. Role swaps could also be
executed automatically through Insulectro's automated console management
system. "We had the whole thing running on autopilot," says Qadir.
"Vision's consultant helped a lot and overall support is fantastic."
"In the last four months, we completed 20 switches and everything has been
perfect," added Qadir. "We are at a point where if someone calls me and
says there is a big fire in the mountains, I can execute a switch and in
ten minutes all of our facilities worldwide can be on a different server
without a hitch."
"Insulectro showcases the exciting potential that Vision products bring to
businesses of all size," says Peter Sa, vice president of Vision Solutions' Global
Services & Education. "Customers understand more than ever how our software
helps them consistently meet recovery time and recovery point objectives --
to keep their business systems highly available."
About Vision Solutions
Vision Solutions, Inc. is the
world's leading provider of high availability, disaster recovery and data
management solutions for IBM® Power Systems (System i and System p
platforms). With a portfolio spanning the industry's most innovative and
trusted HA solutions from ORION™, MIMIX® and iTERA™
brands, Vision keeps critical businesses information continuously protected
and available. Affordable and easy to use, Vision products ensure business
continuity, increase productivity, reduce operating costs and satisfy
compliance requirements. Vision also offers advanced cluster management and
systems management solutions, and support for i5/OS®, Windows®, and
AIX® operating environments. As IBM's largest high availability Premier
Business Partner (NYSE : IBM ), Vision Solutions oversees a global network of
business partners and services and support professionals to help our
customers achieve their business goals. Privately held by Thoma Cressey
Bravo, Inc., Vision Solutions is headquartered in Irvine, California with
offices worldwide. For more information visit www.visionsolutions.com or
call 800.957.4511.