News Release

Nationwide Introduces Next Generation SAN Infrastructure from Cisco

HP deploys new Cisco SAN for Storage Consolidation and Business Continuity
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Nov 04, 2003

LONDON, November 4, 2003 - Cisco Systems today announced that Nationwide, the world's largest building society, has selected its Cisco MDS 9000 Family of Multilayer director and fabric-class storage area networking (SAN) switches and the Cisco ONS 15540 Extended Services Platform to help deliver its next generation SAN infrastructure, initially consisting of over 2,000 ports across two data centres. HP Services, a Cisco original storage manufacturer (OSM) and advanced technology partner (ATP), proposed the solution and is prime contractor, working closely with Nationwide Building Society and Cisco to manage both the SAN and DWDM network deployment. In addition HP will provide business critical support for both elements of the solution.

The storage networking solution designed by HP Services, utilizes the Cisco MDS 9509 Multilayer Directors for intelligent SAN switching, and will serve the business-line applications supporting 13,000 employees across nearly 700 branch offices and six administration centres. The solution also utilizes Cisco ONS 15540 to interconnect the two data centres using dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) between Wiltshire and Northamptonshire for business continuity purposes. In all, Nationwide's highly-available SAN will manage some 800 servers and a total storage capacity of 40 terabytes.

A primary factor in Nationwide's decision to implement its SAN was to increase operational efficiency in managing its storage capacity, which was doubling year-on-year through business growth. Nationwide required high port density, intelligent SAN switches, with built-in modularity and flexibility for future growth. Additionally, Nationwide chose to deploy the DWDM and storage over IP business-continuity solution in anticipation of compliance with Basel II, a set of risk-management recommendations submitted by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, an international regulatory body.

"We required the intelligent network services that are provided by the Cisco MDS 9000 SAN switch family in order to build a consolidated, highly available SAN infrastructure that our business can rely upon with confidence," commented Arthur Amos, Head of Technology Support, for Nationwide Building Society. "We recognised that only Cisco SAN switches offer functionality such as VSANs, built-in diagnostic tools and multiprotocol support today, which provide Nationwide with a lower total cost of ownership and investment protection."

Before selecting the technology, Nationwide conducted a comprehensive series of tests that would measure performance and functionality of current and future plans against rigorous environments. After over 160 separate tests, Nationwide selected the Cisco MDS 9500 family based upon:

  • Intelligent network services - Virtual SAN (VSAN) technology, which helps Nationwide to separate production, testing and development environments on the same physical hardware; Roles based Access Control Lists (ACLs) to assist in deploying skilled storage management teams in the most productive way; and Fabric-wide QoS to help enable maintain high levels of availability for the SAN environment. This will help enable Nationwide to separate and assign distinct priorities for mission critical services.
  • Support for industry-leading system bandwidth of up to1.44 terabits per second.
  • The solution aligns with and will help enable Nationwide's future plans to take advantage of its existing Cisco IP-based network infrastructure, using both iSCSI and FCIP technologies.

The Nationwide SAN has already entered its implementation phase, and has aggressive roll-out targets. Northamptonshire was selected as the first site, and it is anticipated that all hosts will have switched to the MDS family by the end of the year.

"Nationwide's choice helps to validate our belief that next generation SAN infrastructures require network intelligence to make storing, retrieving, and protecting critical data across widely distributed environments more efficient and cost-effective," said Marcus Chambers, operations director, storage area networking for Cisco Systems EMEA. "Our Cisco MDS 9000 SAN switches and Cisco ONS 15540 optical products provide end-to-end intelligent network services that help our customers to lower the total cost of storage networking."

Nationwide is working with HP Services to deploy Cisco MDS 9509 Multilayer Directors and the Cisco ONS 15540 Extended Services Platform, to provide the core network for this server business continuance project, alongside its existing Cisco IP network based on Catalyst 6500 series switches.

About Nationwide

Nationwide is one of the UK's leading financial services providers. It has 10 million members and over #85 billion in assets.

Nationwide offers a range of products and services designed to meet members' financial needs and maintains an extensive branch network. This is complemented by services available by phone, post, internet using a PC or MAC, WAP phones, PocketPC PDAs and TV internet banking. Nationwide was the first to launch an internet banking service in the UK, first to have an internet banking service available through a TV and offered Europe's first PocketPC PDA mobile banking service.

Nationwide is a mutually owned organisation. This means it belongs to its members and is run for their benefit. It's this mutual status that makes Nationwide different to the banks. Nationwide offers genuine long-term good value, and gives members easy access to a wide range of products and services. For more details, visit the Web site at: www.nationwide.co.uk