HP wins DIFC deal for advanced StorageWorks

"We consider HP's RISS solution to be the most advanced e-mail archiving system in terms of security, scalability and performance. The new solution complies with DIFC audit requirements that are based on high standard international regulations. The deployment of RISS solution from HP is in line with our strategy of adopting world-class IT solutions to support our current and future business challenges. HP's new solution is expected to improve DIFC's productivity by increasing access to information and by providing fast retrieval of archived content, as well as accelerating information discovery for compliance audits. It will also dramatically reduce legal discovery and surveillance costs where data can be searched, retrieved, and exported in a fraction of time required from competing solutions or manual operations. In light of our mission to be a catalyst for regional economic growth, development and diversification, we make sure that we adopt the highest security and compliance measures," said Hanan Askalan, Chief Information Officer, DIFC.

DIFC has chosen HP following an extensive market study of the state-of-art solutions. RISS is an active-archiving solution that transforms data into useful information. Relevant Data is securely stored to mitigate risk. IT operational costs are minimized through an automated data migration policy and end-user initiated information retrievals.

Tarek Al Madhoun, Director of Financial Industry, HP Middle East said:

"This deployment is the first implementation of the RISS product in the Middle East and third in the world. The scalability of its platform will also enable DIFC to focus on their business rather than perform expensive infrastructure upgrades and data migration projects."

The DIFC, being a financial hub for Middle East's booming financial sector, chose HP to manage its e-mail archiving processes due to the company's proven record in providing innovative solutions that meet the growing IT demands.

Al Madhoun added: "It is a matter of pride to be chosen by a respected and dynamic organization such as DIFC to implement our RISS solution. The Reference Information Storage System integrates all of the required hardware, software, and services that will provide both cost-effective and long-term storage of reference information. The solution architecture supports linear scalability and high performance by categorizing huge amount of data across smart cells."

RISS solution will reduce SAN/NAS storage and IT support costs in the center as data is stored on low cost storage smart cells. Data duplication in the customer storage environment will also be reduced and automatically managed. RISS's complete disaster recovery solution will eliminate downtime in the event of a site disaster supported either via the replication option or the backup to tape option. Also, seamless integration into applications will lower training and cut personnel training costs.

"RISS solution includes HP Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) partner integrations which expands support to cover all forms of reference information and file types. DIFC is leading the way in adopting new technologies that help the center to achieve its vision as a global gateway for capital and investment," Al Madhoun concluded.