EMC, a global leader in information infrastructure solutions, said it has successfully completed the implementation of a major server virtualization project for Commercial Bank of Qatar (CBQ), a major financial institution in Qatar.

EMC said its storage area network (SAN) and virtualization solutions helped CBQ in its strategic requirement of a quick Recovery Time Objective (RTO) for all bank’s applications.

The three phase project included a six-month consultation period during which EMC specialists made a detailed assessment of the bank’s infrastructure and put the design to converge it to technologies such as virtualization and private cloud, it noted.

EMC high end and mid range storage for a virtualized infrastructure was introduced to connect hundreds of the bank servers.

Andy Stevens, group CEO of CBQ, said technology was critical today to 24x7 business operations.

"Hence such solutions are essential for forward-thinking organisations that need to deliver reliability and growth, and transform our information infrastructure, thus reinforcing Commercial bank’s position as the leading financial services provider in Qatar," he noted.

Rafed Al-Ani, principal technology officer for CBQ, said, "We are now able to move applications to a different hardware (while the application is running and even during business hours) without incurring downtime."

"Moving to private cloud computing gives our applications resiliency over hardware problems. The same technology allows us to switch to our Backup Site quickly if needed. In fact, we have tested this successfully several times already,” he added.
 
EMC’s solutions adopted by the bank will also help it reduce its carbon footprint as it abides by Green IT guidelines, said a senior official.

“It is extremely gratifying to be able to seamlessly and timely implement a robust solution that is designed in a bespoke way to meet the stringent requirements of one of the Middle East’s most prestigious financial institutions,” said Habib Mahakian, regional director for North Gulf, Levant & Pakistan Area (EMC).

"Our technology will further improve and support the information infrastructure of the CBQ to help them achieve the customer services goals as well as their growth plans," he added.-TradeArabia News Service