French Public Finance Agency Choose Synerway and Partner SCC

The DGFiP
(French Public Finance Agency) choose Synerway and their systems integration partner SCC for
their data protection requirements.

The DGFiP
(French Public Finance Agency) launched a consultation process for the purchase
and maintenance of a data backup and restoration solution for mainland France
and overseas sites.

In all,
there are 1,800 local sites (tax offices) and 170 regional sites which regroup
management and specialist services.

Threefold
constraints:
The primary
constraint of the DGFIP was to install a software-only solution in its local
sites in order to limit on-site interventions and improve data backup and
restoration quality of service. This solution enables user assistance
departments in the Besancon IT control centre to handle software configurations
remotely.

Secondly,
regional management and specialised services centers are equipped with both
physical and software solutions to enable them to work with greater data
volumes and quality of service.

The third
constraint expressed by the DGFIP was for the complete solution to remain coherent and interconnected. With a view to improving overall
service levels, the DGFiP is keen to consolidate backups performed locally,
over the network, to regional management sites.

The
technical response:
Synerway, the
virtual and physical appliance software editor, creates solutions which answer three constraints. In partnership with SCC, in their role as a project manager, from the outset to
deployment, Synerway proposes a series of technical solutions which respond to the specifications defined by the DGFiP.

The
technical solution comprises two major components:

• One for
  remote sites designated in solution 1.
• Another for
  regional management sites to receive consolidated data from remote sites
  designated in solution 2.

Solution 1,
which concerns over 1,800 remote sites, is a Virtual Backup Appliance (SVA)
installed on an on-site workstation, in this case a data collection machine
running on Windows XP. It enables
disk backups, meaning that data is restored locally to Windows and Linux
systems. Backups are then consolidated to one of 170 regional sites.

Solution 2, which concerns the 170 regional sites, is a Physical Backup Appliance
the size of which depends on required data volumes. (MA8000T or LA16000L). This
Synerway appliance backups office servers and workstations and other Windows,
Linux, AIX, HP-UX systems based on a pre-defined set of backup requirements. It
also acts as a reception appliance for backuped data consolidated from the
remote sites within its region.

In addition
to the technology, in particular the
newly-developed virtual appliance ranges, SVA Pack and RBM, other organisational
and operational considerations played a role in the choice made by the
DGFiP.

Synerway has
the advantages to provide a single point of contact for
services and technical support.

For the IT
teams, the daily operating tasks performed by the appliances are
simplified thanks in part to the identical interfaces for both physical and
virtual appliances. Many tasks typically linked to backup are now automated or
eliminated.

The
centralised supervision and administration of the appliances is handled by the
SVA RBM (Remote Backup Management), a dedicated virtual appliance.

The range of
Synerway appliances comprises a solution where storage space requirements can
grow over time. The modification of the appliance disk space is performed by adding a software key.

During the
first half of 2011, Synerway announced two key deals in the retail sector in France and
abroad. The contract with the French Finance Ministry enables Synerway to
continue to break through into the public sector and position itself on the multi-site data protection market.