GoldenGate Software, Inc. - the leader in Transactional Data Management

Bank of America ($769+ billion ) was using an outside source for disaster recovery and business continuity while it underwent intensive mergers and acquisitions. The company wanted to bring a standardized solution in-house that would eliminate the need for dedicated, internal support personnel. It also was ready to migrate from the Compaq NonStop Himalaya K-Series to the S-Series. After evaluating other products, the initial installation of the GoldenGate Global Data Synchronization platform took only days in Spring '01 and just weeks to migrate the bank's databases with no downtime.

GoldenGate is used across Bank of America's (BofA) ATM/POS network system, maintaining 14,000 ATM/POS that process approximately 2.3 million ATM transactions each day; about three billion transactions a year. On peak days transactions reach upwards of 300 per second. BofA customers can walk up to an ATM and see their balances in real-time, up-to-the-second. In addition to business continuity and disaster recovery, BofA is also using GoldenGate for data center consolidation and integration, system migration, and fraud detection.

Global data synchronization is the immediate capture, transformation and delivery of large volumes of data across your entire organization and beyond, unlike other systems that are limited to a single initiative.

No System Degradation or Downtime GoldenGate's ability to capture and store database changes as they occur allowed BofA's system administrators to keep the largest proprietary ATM network in the nation up and running during the upgrade. In addition to zero downtime, initial migration from the K-Series to the S-Series has led to a progression of successful migrations for the bank.

"While currently used for bi-directional synchronization from NonStop Himalaya to NonStop Himalaya, GoldenGate's near any-to-any synchronization capabilities extend its usefulness," says Michele Schwappach, vp and senior systems manager for ATM/debit applications, BofA. "To date, we have it deployed in five data centers." GoldenGate is also synchronized to an SQL database on a server.

BofA has five data centers, with the largest located in Kansas City. If one data center should ever go down, GoldenGate can facilitate an immediate, seamless fail-over.

"The ability to bring the business continuity in-house has been a strong benefit and a great result," adds Michele. "We have achieved this without dedicating valuable technical resources to operating a new product. The GoldenGate solution delivered convenience and time-savings benefits. We can just bind it in where we need it, to synchronize with another site and know it's going to do what we need it to."

"We do it better than anyone else, particularly in the banking industry," says Ramon Chen, senior director of product management, GoldenGate.

BofA is also using GoldenGate to synchronize data across multiple platforms to accommodate an increasingly heterogeneous computing environment. It provides integration capabilities that can handle increasing volumes on the bank's ATM/POS network. GoldenGate also mimics production conditions to test new applications prior to going live and provides input for future product enhancements.

When asked whether additional personnel were required to use GoldenGate, Michele replied, "No, in fact it takes less dedication of personnel, and system administrators have more time to devote to other activities now that GoldenGate handles it automatically 24/7/365."

The bank finds the solution extremely easy to learn and use. "We rely on Insession's and GoldenGate's people to get the most from the applications we use. It has made it very easy to accommodate Bank of America's growth," states Michele. Insession Technologies is a sister company of ACI, and a reseller of GoldenGate products.

Bank of America, headquartered in Charlotte, NC has over 4,200 banking centers and over 14,000 ATMs. As one of the leading financial services companies across the United States and around the world, BofA's web site provides online access for more than 3 million customers — more than any other bank. You can visit them at www. bankofamerica.com.

About GoldenGate

GoldenGate, founded in 1995 and headquartered in Sausalito, California, is a leader in global data synchronization. The software product simultaneously records and copies data on one computer system and delivers it to another system, providing sub-second capture, transformation and delivery of large volumes of information across heterogeneous systems. In addition to Bank of America, its worldwide customer base of over 200 companies includes customers such as Bank One, VISA, Merrill Lynch, Paymentech, and Dell Computer. You can find out more at www. goldengate.com.

Fundamental Attributes

Speed - sub-second.
Volume - terabytes of data.
Diversity - any data environment.

"GoldenGate's solution is unique in that it offers an unbeatable combination of speed, volume and diversity," states Ramon. "Most other products on the market today are point solutions and specialize in specific business areas, whereas GoldenGate's global data synchronization platform is multifaceted and able to be adapted for a variety of business applications and technical environments."

GoldenGate captures your data at the source as it changes and then delivers that data to the target in less than a second. GoldenGate says it can ensure database synchronization even where transaction volumes are very high. Its log-based change capture functionality provides optimum performance while minimizing overhead. A typical implementation takes up less than 5% of your system resources.

GoldenGate says you can rely on its software platform to share data, ensure continuous availability and manage a wide range of critical IT initiatives such as data movement, data transformation, data migration, and data replication.

Enables You to Support:

Business continuity.
Business activity monitoring.

Disaster recovery.
Data center consolidation and integration.
System migration.
Application integration.
Active data warehousing.
Fraud detection.
Implementation of the Patriot Act.

Ramon says, "It certainly varies but so far business continuity and disaster recovery requirements have been the initial implementation for (most) GoldenGate customers. However more and more, all of the other initiatives listed are being implemented or considered by new and existing customers."

Fraud detection is facilitated because data information is up to the second; two people cannot withdraw funds simultaneously from the same account. And since the data is moved instantaneously, you need fewer databases and machines, saving you money.

The GoldenGate Activity Console is a newly released add-on that enables the online, real-time monitoring, management and reporting of all GoldenGate related data capture and delivery throughout your network.

"Product installation is extremely simple and generally can be accomplished in quick time," states Ramon. "Customization and specific setup for the environment, etc. will vary depending on sophistication and requirements. As an example, Bank of America is quoted as saying, installation, implementation and training to go live was less than 30 days."

GoldenGate offers training, services, 24x7 support, and is reported to be very easy to learn and use. Perpetual or term pricing is available, with the actual price depending on the required configuration.

Contact Ramon Chen, senior director product management, GoldenGate, 3 Harbor Drive, #200, Sausalito, CA 94965 (415/339-7954 or www. goldengate.com).

Bank of America Uses Global Data Synchronization for Business Continuity