Reserve Bank seeks new high-speed DR network

Better connectivity needed for backup banking and registry services

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will refresh its existing network services over the next 12 months to keep pace with growing disaster recovery requirements at its $38 million data centre.

With its head office in the Sydney CBD and a business continuity site at Norwest Business Park, Bella Vista, (also in Sydney) the RBA replicates data between the two sites for DR in the event of a system failure or outage.

A number of data services are running between the two data centres across a Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) service.

The RBA is now seeking suppliers for a high-speed inter data centre network between its head office and its DR, or “Business Resumption Site” (BRS) to replace the existing DWDM services.

The BRS houses backup systems supporting the banking and registry services and can function if the head office is not available.

The bank’s BRS became operational in July 2007 following two years of planning and 16 permanent positions were transferred to the DR site, which now has some 60 staff.

It is a two storey 4850 square metre building with a 240 square metre data centre on the ground floor adjacent to a 20-seat “dealing room”.

The dealing room is necessary to provide continuity to the RBA’s domestic, foreign exchange and international market operations, according to the RBA and “dealing facilities are highly ITC intensive”.

As a “greenfields” project, the design of the BRS incorporated a number of industry standards like storm-water harvesting and grey-water recycling.

The building is designed to achieve a four-and-a-half star Australian Building Greenhouse Rating.

The cost of the facility was estimated to be $38 million and in 2008 the BRS added about $7 million to the RBA’s running costs.

All carriers are eligible to apply and the new service will involve a three year contract from October 2011.

Tags data centresNetworkingdisaster recoveryBusiness ContinuityReserve Bank of Australia (RBA)

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