BankThai deploys Cisco optical equipment for business continuance process
May 27, 2004 Bangkok, Thailand -- BankThai, one of Thailand's leading banks with 85 branches nationwide, has deployed an advanced optical network with equipment from < ahref=http://www.cisco.com>Cisco Systems for its business continuance process. The network facilitates the real-time data replication between the bank's headquarters and its remote disaster recovery center, helping to ensure that the bank will be able to continue serving its customers in the event of any external threat, including natural or man-made disasters.
The Cisco ONS 15530 Metro DWDM Multiservice Aggregation Platform is deployed to meet the mission-critical requirement of transporting Enterprise Systems Connection (ESCON), 10-Gigabit Ethernet trunks, Gigabit Ethernet, and Fibre Channel (2G) for the WAN connections. The Cisco ONS 15530 combines DWDM, storage area networking (SAN), and high-speed data aggregation on one platform, enabling companies to extend their SANs over optical networks.
"Without Cisco's optical solution, our business faces a big risk from unforeseen circumstances," reports Danai Khaophaisarn, IT director for BankThai. "We estimated that we would lose about $2 million per day if our primary site were to go out of operation for some reason. The optical network helps ensure our continued success and long-term growth and positions us to compete internationally."
To help ensure a smooth deployment, BankThai engaged Cisco Advanced Services to provide the bank with professional engineering support that would help the bank maximize the effectiveness of the optical network.
"Financial services sector companies have very special needs for their technology infrastructure projects, which Cisco is very mindful of," explains AsawinIKangvolkij, managing director, Thailand, Cisco Systems. "Data consolidation and business continuity plans are absolutely critical for companies such as BankThai with no room for mistakes. Cisco's optical solution, combined with support from their Advanced Services, is a powerful combination to meet those requirements," he adds.