LONDON - 16 July, 2003 Cisco Systemstoday announced that Market Solutions, the IT division ofEuronext.liffe, is using networking and storage technologies fromCisco and Hitachi Data Systems, together with project procurementservices from BT, to interconnect data centres in London and Parisfor business continuity purposes.
In this innovative deployment, both the London and Paris datacentres host servers and applications that process live,transactional data with each site serving as the other's backupdata facility in the event of failure. Storage, data, and opticalnetworking products from Cisco supporting Fibre Channel, IPstorage, TCP/IP, and Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) form theunderlying transport infrastructure that extends nearly 650kilometers from one data centre to the other.
Storage subsystems and data replication software from HitachiData Systems help ensure that identical copies of data aremaintained and can be accessed from either data centre at alltimes.
"Within a trading environment, having reliable access torealtime data is not just important, it's business-critical," saidMark Hemsley, Managing Director of Euronext.liffe Market Solutions."We turned to Cisco, Hitachi Data Systems and BT to deliver thisbusiness-continuity solution because the companies have theexperience and the product portfolios that meet the needs ofhigh-end enterprise computing environments like ours."
Market Solutions data centres host services for all of theirportfolio of customers, each of which has demanding service levelsfor availability and data integrity. The storage area network (SAN)is an important infrastructure component of LIFFE CONNECT(R), theworld's most advanced electronic trading system. LIFFE CONNECT(R)is used by an expanding global customer base, the SAN allows theflexibility to consolidate and manage the storage demands of thesecustomers in a business environment where growth in data storageneeds can be dramatic.
The SAN consists of multiprotocol switches, four at each site,built using Cisco MDS 9509 Multilayer Directors. These SAN switchesconnect servers to several Hitachi Freedom Storage(TM) Lightning9960(TM) and Lightning(TM) 9980V(TM) enterprise-class storagesystems, delivering multiple terabytes of storage capacity. HitachiTrueCopy(TM) software installed in the storage subsystems at bothdata centers helps provide the remote data replicationcapability.
Cisco & Hitachi worked together with BT to provideEuronext.life Market Solutions with the most innovative solutionsin both technology and project financing. "The power of thecooperation delivered much more than any of us could have providedseparately," said Pierre Danon, CEO of BT Retail. "This projectreflects the way the market is going; strong teams provide the mostbenefit to the customer."
"We often talk of our open and collaborative strategy at HitachiData Systems," said Robert Bignell, Senior Director, EnterpriseProducts and Solutions, Hitachi Data Systems. "Working as acooperative team to provide the most complete solution possible iswhat customers want and need, and Euronext.liffe is proof that thisstrategy works."
For network connectivity outside of the data centers,Euronext.liffe Market Solutions equipped its Cisco MDS 9509's withCisco MDS 9000 IP Storage Services Modules that connect to Cisco7600 series routers over TCP/IP. In turn, these routers connect toa wide-area SDH (synchronous digital hierarchy) ring built usingCisco ONS 15454 Multiservice Provisioning Platforms located atnetworking points in London, Paris, and Amsterdam. The SDH ringsupports multiple STM-16 links, equivalent to 2.5 gigabits persecond of bandwidth per link.
The IP Storage Services Modules serve as the gateway betweenLIFFE CONNECT(R) Fibre Channel-based traffic in its SANs and theTCP/IP-based traffic outside of its data centres through FibreChannel over IP (FCIP) technology. FCIP works by encapsulatingentire Fibre Channel frames in IP packets for transport acrossTCP/IP links. FCIP, therefore, helps enable Euronext.liffe MarketSolutions to connect its SANs over long distances, making it usefulfor business continuity applications such as data mirroring,asynchronous data replication, and remote backup.
Cisco is the first vendor to implement the industry-standardversion of FCIP technology, which is currently undergoing theratification process through the Internet Engineering Task Force(IETF). Through the IP Storage Services Module and the Cisco MDS9000 Family, Cisco is also the first vendor to offer FCIPintegrated into both director and fabric-class SAN switches.
"Assuring business continuity is becoming a strategic initiativefor many of our customers," said Robert Lloyd, President of CiscoSystems in Europe Middle East and Africa. "By working with industryleaders such as Hitachi Data Systems, Cisco is able to apply itsstorage and data networking expertise to deliver highly availableand reliable solutions that protect perhaps the most valuable ITasset an enterprise can own -- its data."
Euronext.liffe, the derivatives business of Euronext, comprisingthe derivatives markets of Amsterdam, Brussels, LIFFE, Lisbon andParis is creating a single market for derivatives, by bringing allits derivatives products together on a single electronic tradingplatform, LIFFE CONNECT(R). This has started with the successfulBrussels market migration on 24 March 2004, and the Paris market on14 April. Amsterdam markets will migrate in early 2004. Thereplacement of multiple trading venues with a single marketsupported by a state of the art electronic trading system willreduce costs for both Euronext.liffe itself and its customers, andmake cross-border trading easier and cheaper.
LIFFE CONNECT(R) is the world's most advanced electronic tradingsystem, with an unrivalled speed of execution and flexibility. Itis the world's most widely accessible electronic trading platform,making the derivatives market it supports available to customers atover 615 locations in 26 countries worldwide. The Chicago Board ofTrade, the Tokyo International Financial Futures Exchange, NQLX andEuronext have chosen LIFFE CONNECT(R) to trade a wide range offixed income and equity derivatives products.
Hitachi Data Systems is committed to enabling organizationsworldwide to exploit the full potential of information. Byfollowing and deploying our TrueNorth(tm) strategy, we providecustomers with a broad range of storage solutions to simplify,protect and optimize their information infrastructures. Ourofferings include centralized and distributed storage systems andsoftware, professional services, complemented by best-of-breedproducts through channel partners and industry alliances.
With 2,700 employees, Hitachi Data Systems conducts businessthrough direct and indirect channels in the public, government andprivate sectors in over 170 countries and regions. Its customersinclude more than 50 percent of Fortune 100 companies. For moreinformation, please visit our Web site at www.hds.com.
Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is aleading global electronics company, with approximately 340,000employees worldwide. Fiscal 2002 (ended March 31, 2003)consolidated sales totaled 8,191.7 billion yen ($68.3 billion). Thecompany offers a wide range of systems, products and services inmarket sectors, including information systems, electronic devices,power and industrial systems, consumer products, materials andfinancial services. For more information on Hitachi, please visitthe company's Web site at http://global.hitachi.com
BT is one of the world's leading providers of telecommunicationsservices and one of the largest private sector companies in Europe.Its principal activities include local, long distance andinternational telecommunications services, internet and broadbandservices and IT solutions. In the UK, BT serves more than 28million exchange lines as well as providing network services toother licensed operators.
BT Group consists of:
- BT Retail, the UK's largest communications service provider andthe prime channel to market for BT's other businesses;
- BT Wholesale, the provider of network services and solutions tocommunications companies, network operators and serviceproviders;
- BT Global Services, BT's business services and solutionsbusiness, serving customers worldwide; and
- BT Openworld, a mass-market narrow and broadband internetbusiness.
Further businesses make up BT Group, including BtexactTechnologies, the internationally renowned advanced research andtechnology business. For more information, visit www.btplc.com.
Cisco Systems, Inc.(Nasdaq: CSCO) is the worldwide leader innetworking for the Internet. Cisco news and information areavailable at http://www.cisco.com. Cisco equipment in Europe is supplied by Cisco SystemsInternational BV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cisco Systems,Inc.
Cisco, Cisco Systems and the Cisco Systems logo are registeredtrademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. in the U.S. and certain othercountries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are theproperty of their respective owners.
Contacts: PR
Shirley Virando, Hitachi Data Systems,+44 1753 618 682,shirley.virando@hds.com
Marc Musgrove, Cisco Systems, +44 (0)20 824 6200 mmusgrov@cisco.com
Cisco, Cisco Systems and the CiscoSystems logo are registered trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. inthe U.S. and certain other countries.
All other trademarks mentioned in thisdocument are the property of their respective owners.
© Hitachi Data Systems isregistered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademarkand service mark of Hitachi, Ltd.
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