With EMC's geographically dispersed disaster restart (GDDR) software, customers can take a holistic approach to automatically restarting host mainframe systems, critical applications and Symmetrix DMX storage systems to enhance information availability and minimize the impact of outages.
According to EMC, GDDR software is up to 50 percent less expensive than existing solutions. The storage giant also claims competitive offerings require lengthy planning processes, complex custom scripting, extended debug and test periods, and expensive, long term service contracts.
"GDDR software delivers the highest levels of availability and assures automated restart consistency across applications and implementation methodologies via a proven, standardized software product," according to EMC's VP of storage product operations, David Donatelli.
"With GDDR, we're providing IBM mainframe customers with a cost-effective solution that enables them to meet stringent recovery time objectives and enhance the reliability of their restart and recovery operations while helping to relieve associated IT resource constraints."
The parameter driven software can automate failover operations during planned outages such as maintenance operations and upgrades, and test disaster restart operations without writing, verifying, and maintaining custom scripts.
One customer, Euroclear's managing director of corporate technology, Michael Pilkington, said GDDR has taken the organization's information infrastructure to a new level, providing an assurance to deliver services to clients, even during severe business disruption scenarios.
"As the world's largest provider of domestic and cross-border securities settlement and related services, the high availability of our mission-critical IT systems is a fundamental requirement of Euroclear," Pilkington said.
Carl Greiner, the senior vice president of the software and IT services group at Ovum, said enterprise customers are asking for simplified, standardized disaster restart and recovery functionality that enhances information and system availability across critical operations.
"With this new solution, EMC is providing mainframe customers with a new level of automation, protection and management agility. This is expanding the market for this type of functionality," Greiner said.
EMC GDDR software for Symmetrix DMX storage system customers with three-site mainframe configurations is available now from EMC and its worldwide network of partners.