Chase Australia wanted to consolidate three divergent disaster recovery sites into one site, to reduce business risk. It also wanted backup and recovery capabilities that the bank could leverage daily to maximize its investment.

Both Chase Australia and IBM Global Services had to create a new business relationship that went far beyond traditional business continuity services. The two companies also had to transform the premise of a service designed as a worst-case backup into a business asset that could be used daily.

Chase Australia hired IBM Global Services after a competitive review. In addition to assisting Chase Australia produce an enhanced business continuity plan, IBM Global Services worked with Chase Australia to integrate its recovery infrastructure into Chase Australia's data network. Using a high-speed ATM data link between Chase Australia headquarters and the IBM continuity center, data on some servers is mirrored, while other data is backed up during the day. The continuity center is managed as a logical node of Chase Australia's network, providing additional backup and other network flexibility.

Chase Australia eliminated a potential business risk as it updated its business continuity capabilities. With ongoing backup, Chase Australia gets to benefit every day from a capability once earmarked for rare disasters. Change management procedures are more rigorous to accommodate the continuity center. Users have also already benefited by having data rapidly restored after minor outages. Chase Australia is now looking at mirroring additional data, incorporating the Internet into business continuity plans and examining how telecommuters and laptop owners can benefit from advanced backup and recovery capabilities.

Constantly changing bank data had to be either mirrored or backed up at a remote facility through a secure ATM link. When necessary, recovery needed to be extremely fast, with minimal user impact. The remote facility had to be recognized as a virtual network within Chase Australia's network management tools. Everything had to be implemented and tested within a tight deadline.

"We kept raising the bar, and IBM Global Services always delivered. It wasn't easy at first, but we both had to be willing to go as a team where few companies had gone before. Our relationship with IBM gives us confidence that it will always be there to keep us going in a disaster and will work with us continuously to enhance competitive capabilities." -- Stuart Neilson, Director, Technology and Operations at Chase Australia