Northeast Utilities Deploys DR Solution From Continuity Software

Continuity
Software announced that Northeast Utilities (NYSE: NU), New
England’s largest utilities company, has deployed its RecoverGuard
software and DR Assurance service to increase its confidence in its
ability to recover critical IT systems in the face of a disaster.

Northeast
Utilities’ production and disaster recovery (DR) datacenters are large,
complicated, heterogeneous, environments with a myriad of
interdependencies. Its environment covers three states: Connecticut,
New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and includes both UNIX and Windows
servers, as well as Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server and Sybase databases.
The datacenters support and protect business services across the
organization including ERP, supply chain and customer relationship
management, as well as both “off-the-shelf” and “home-grown” utility
specific applications.

Because Northeast
Utilities’ IT environment was so large, interdependent and
mission-critical, it was not able to simulate an accurate DR test
scenario by shutting its systems down cold. In other words, in the real
world there is no such thing as a ‘graceful shutdown’ during a true
disaster event. Northeast Utilities had already implemented the most
advanced technologies available and adhered religiously to industry
best practices, however the addition of the Continuity Software
disaster recovery management solution increased its confidence in its
disaster recovery readiness.

Once deployed,
RecoverGuard scanned Northeast Utilities’ open systems DR environment
nightly, ensuring that no inadvertent configuration changes might
adversely affect its recoverability status. When an issue was detected,
RecoverGuard delivered an instantaneous alert, allowing Northeast
Utilities to take immediate action and ensure ongoing data protection,
disaster recoverability and business continuity. Continuity Software’s
DR Assurance service further enhanced Northeast Utilities’ DR strategy.
Daily statistics, tickets and event notifications are now sent directly
to the Continuity Software DR Specialists Team for review and analysis.
When a problem is detected, a Continuity Software DR Specialist alerts
Northeast Utilities and provides recommendations on how best to remedy.

“Northeast
Utilities’ datacenter is a classic example of a highly sophisticated
environment, employing the most advanced technologies, run by a truly
world-class team. They recognized that testing their DR environment
several times each year was simply not sufficient and proactively
sought a solution that would take their DR strategy to the next level,”
said Gil Hecht, Founder and CEO, Continuity Software. “Continuity
Software’s RecoverGuard, backed-up by its DR Assurance service, helps
Northeast Utilities to maintain its uncompromised commitment to data
protection, disaster resilience and business continuity, thereby
ensuring its ongoing delivery of the region’s most robust and
dependable electric and natural gas services.”

Northeast
Utilities has also benefited from the RecoverGuard Optimization
Engine’s ability to leverage its in-depth DR topology map in order to
detect both under and over utilized assets, allowing Northeast
Utilities to fine-tune its resources and further drive infrastructure
value.

Northeast
Utilities

Continuity Software