IBM Storage Management Solution from Mainline Streamlines Routine Backups & Delivers Bottom-line Cost Savings for Digital Federal Credit Union

Among the top 20 Credit Unions in the United States, Digital Federal Credit Union (DCU) is a full-service financial services organization serving more than 300,000 members, and their families, in all 50 states.

The Challenge
Being a member-owned organization, it is important that DCU provide exceptional, timely services in the most cost-effective manner. The credit union identified two areas where technology solution improvements would directly affect their bottom-line: reduction in operating costs and implementation of a more efficient back-up solution along with a disaster recovery plan. Now, they had to determine how to implement the needed technology solutions.

From left to right: Brian Exposito, Mainline; Jeff Smith, DCU; and Chris Dedham, Mainline.

Because each server in the credit union's existing data center was being backed-up to its own internal tape drive, critical business processes were held-up whenever a back-up was preformed. This had an internal effect on employees, stalling workflow and slowing daily operations. This also touched DCU's customers by creating service delays.

"This was limiting to our overall business," said Jeff Smith, Server Administrator for DCU. "We needed something centralized, stable and easy to use. We also wanted to implement a much needed disaster recovery plan."

The credit union decided to move to a centralized, automated back-up system. Their existing back-ups were handled by local attach tape or by back-up software that was inadequate for managing DCU's growing environment. Increases in the number of servers and amount of data simply required a better solution.

DCU engaged Mainline to review and advise them on a disaster recovery plan, which included centralizing and managing their back-ups. DCU was about to purchase a third-party software solution and an automated tape library, but Mainline asked if they had considered IBM's Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) Solution.

"We had been told TSM was a complicated back-up application, so we had not evaluated it." Smith said. "However, because of Mainline's expertise and our working relationship with them, we decided to give it a chance. The evaluation illustrated that TSM was not only the best solution for our storage management needs, but also easy to use."

The Solution
The evaluation stage included a TSM demo conducted jointly by Mainline and IBM at an IBM Briefing Center.

"It was important that DCU see firsthand the benefits of TSM, as well as the usability," said Chris Dedham, Business Continuity Specialist for Mainline. "By providing DCU with quantitative data we were able to assist them in making an informed decision. Because we take a partner approach in working with our customers, we are always looking for ways to improve the success of their organization through technology solutions that enable better business processes and a positive impact the bottom-line." 

"We were impressed by the ease of use and the extensive enterprise capabilities TSM had to offer," Smith said. 

Shortly thereafter, DCU placed an order for two TSM server environments along with the necessary hardware and services to implement TSM. The total solution included IBM TSM 5.3, IBM 3573 tape library, IBM 3576 tape library and various storage components. Two separate TSM servers were implemented, one in each of the customer's data centers. Each server is connected to the library via fibre channel. Mainline implemented the complete solution, and then conducted on-site training to ensure continued customer satisfaction.

The Results
IBM's TSM solution from Mainline has enabled DCU to meet their specified goals. The new storage infrastructure solution provides centralized management, reduced operational costs and does not consume staff resources with arduous back-up processes. All of this means that DCU's employees can provide timely, more cost-effective services to their credit union members.

"TSM has enabled us to focus on what we do best: provide financial services for our customers," explained Smith. "We chose Mainline as our IBM solution provider because of their extensive skills-set in data storage. They proved to us that IBM technology is the superior solution."

DCU is happy to talk with others about their experience and success in implementing IBM's TSM solution. Contact your local Mainline representative for more information, or call Mainline toll free at 866.490.MAIN (6246).