HBOS arm revamps storage for recovery project

HBOS arm revamps storage for recovery project


Insight installs Pillar Data Systems

The asset management division of HBOS is replacing storage systems as part of a business continuity and data recovery project.

Insight Investment, formerly known as Clerical Medical Investment Management, is working with IT firm Pillar Data Systems to install a 25TB storage system.

Pillar’s Axiom technology will store and backup data at the financial services firm’s main site in the City of London and at a secondary data recovery location.

The new system will replace technology from Hitachi and support business applications and data held on Microsoft Exchange and SQL Server.

‘Most systems we are putting in place these days are day-one critical, and what we need to do is provide consistency,’ said Pete Lethbridge, head of IT at Insight.

The investment firm expects to make financial savings and reduce maintenance costs by switching to the technology.

SQL Server systems will be consolidated onto the Pillar storage over the next three months, and other applications will follow.

‘The management software and shared storage pool gives us confidence that our investors’ data is protected,’ said Lethbridge. ‘The system will also give us more capacity for the development of additional applications and will reduce operational and support costs.’

Insight Investment has also recently upgraded its desktops to a Windows XP environment.