Euronext.liffe is using networking and storage technologies from Cisco and Hitachi Data Systems, together with project procurement services from BT, to interconnect data centres in London and Paris for business continuity purposes.
The deployment, overseen by Market Solutions, the IT division of Euronext.liffe, connects live data centres across the English Channel with each site serving as the other’s backup data facility in the event of failure.
Storage, data, and optical networking products from Cisco supporting fibre channel, IP storage, TCP/IP, and Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) form the underlying transport infrastructure that extends nearly 650 kilometers from one data centre to the other. Storage subsystems and data replication software from Hitachi Data Systems help ensure that identical copies of data are maintained and can be accessed from either data centre at all times.
The storage area network (SAN) is an important infrastructure component of Liffe Connect, the Exchange's electronic trading system which is soon to go into production at the Chicago Board of Trade.
The SAN consists of multiprotocol switches, four at each site, built using Cisco MDS 9509 Multilayer Directors. These SAN switches connect servers to several Hitachi Freedom Storage Lightning 9960 and Lightning 9980V systems, delivering multiple terabytes of storage capacity. Hitachi TrueCopy software installed in the storage subsystems at both data centres helps provide the remote data replication capability.
Pierre Danon, CEO of BT Retail, says the co-operative approach to delivery achieved much more than any of the vendors could have managed individually. "This project reflects the way the market is going; strong teams provide the most benefit to the customer."