FalconStor and Nexsan Selected by Greater London Authority

FalconStor Software, Inc. announced
that the Greater London Authority (GLA)
implemented the FalconStor Network Storage Server (NSS) solution and
FalconStor’s RecoverTrac technology to ensure disaster preparedness and to
handle GLA’s data growth prior to the London Olympic Games.

The GLA replaced its tape-based backup and recovery system to ensure data
availability and recovery in four hours or less, estimating a savings of
approximately £90,000 ($139,000) annually.

The GLA, which provides IT support and services to the mayor’s office and the
London Assembly, implemented the disk-based backup technology to ensure
complete data protection and business continuity for events such as the mayoral
elections, the Royal Jubilee celebrations and the Olympic Games.

The authority worked with local storage integrator Cristie Data Ltd to deploy the RecoverTrac
tool and NSS, along with Nexsan Corp.‘s storage, to give the organization
storage virtualization, data replication and automated DR capabilities. With 60TB of data and the eyes of the world focused on the city, GLA data is now
replicated to an off-site data center and can be recovered in the event of an
IT disaster.

"Prior to the 2008 mayoral
elections, a water main burst near City Hall and our power went out. Had it
stayed out for much longer, it would have taken us three days to recover our
data," said David Munn, head of GLA IT. "We could not risk something like that during the London Games or any
other major event happening in 2012. FalconStor’s storage management and
replication technology ensures that we can keep mission-critical data available,
regardless of any disaster."

The GLA estimates it will gain a payback on its DR investment in four years.
The organization now has recovery during data center outages, an 80% reduction
in energy consumption and a storage solution capable of accommodating continued
data growth.

"We’ve given the GLA an
infrastructure that’s much easier to use and has more flexibility, replacing
the previous expensive and slow backup solution of saving data to magnetic
tape," said Ryan Smith, sales director at Cristie Data. "GLA’s enterprise-capacity license means it
can add more storage and data on demand, accommodating future needs without any
business disruption."

"A world-class city like London
needs the protection of automated DR, particularly in a time of massive data
growth and civic activity," said Darrell Riddle, senior director of
product marketing at FalconStor. "Unfortunately, there will not be any gold medal awarded for prudent
data protection planning during the London Olympics – but if there were, the
GLA would be in a strong position to win it. FalconStor ensures that anyone
using GLA’s IT services during the Olympic Games or for normal government
operations is not left in the dark."