BankThai Deploys Cisco Optical Network for Mission-Critical Business Continuance Process

BANGKOK, Thailand - May 27, 2004 - BankThai, one of Thailand's leading banks with 85 branches nationwide, has deployed an advanced optical network with equipment from Cisco Systems® for its business continuance process. The network facilitates the real-time data replication between the bank's headquarters and its remote disaster recovery center, helping to ensure that the bank will be able to continue serving its customers in the event of any external threat including natural or man-made disasters.

The Cisco® ONS 15530 Metro DWDM Multiservice Aggregation Platform is deployed to meet the mission-critical requirement in transporting Enterprise Systems Connection (ESCON), 10 Gigabit Ethernet trunks, Gigabit Ethernet and Fibre Channel (2G) for the WAN connections. The Cisco ONS 15530 combines dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM), storage area network (SAN) and high-speed data aggregation on one platform. This allows companies to extend their SANs over optical networks, which is something no other solution in the market can offer.

"Without Cisco's optical solution, our business faces a big risk from unforeseen circumstances. We would have a lot of problems if our primary site were to go out of operation for some reason. The optical network helps ensure our continued success and long-term growth," said Pol. Capt. Danai Khaophaisarn, Executive Vice President and Division Head, Technology.

To help ensure a smooth deployment, BankThai engaged Cisco Advanced Services to provide the bank with professional engineering support that would help the bank maximize the effectiveness of the optical network. "We were really pleased by the level of expertise of the Cisco Advanced Services team. We were confident that we had selected the right provider for such an important project," added Khaophaisarn.

"Financial services sector companies have very special needs for their technology infrastructure projects, which Cisco is very mindful of. Data consolidation and business continuity plans are absolutely critical for companies such as BankThai with no room for mistakes. Cisco's optical solution, combined with support from their Advanced Services, is a powerful combination to meet those requirements," said Asawin Kangvolkij, managing director, Thailand, Cisco Systems.