OSU and UC form disaster recovery alliance

COLUMBUS - An alliance between The Ohio State University and the University of Cincinnati (UC) is answering the call for universities to work together to develop systems to avoid the loss of data in the event of a disaster. Nearly two years after beginning the long-term project, both institutions now have fully functional disaster recovery data centers to provide backup support for each other.

John Ellinger, senior director of Ohio State's Office of Information Technology (OIT), says the alliance seeks to have data centers that can support redundant disaster recovery for any state of Ohio higher education institution or government agency.

“We have been working toward the goal of creating disaster recovery centers at both UC and Ohio State that are capable of supporting each other's information technology infrastructures in the event of a human or natural disaster, as well as to research and develop technologies to prevent or limit the potential loss of data and service-time should a disaster occur,” Ellinger said.

University data needed for day-to-day operations – including student information, admissions, student financial aid and billing, development and alumni – is now backed up at both facilities. Ellinger expects the process to be completed by December 2006 as systems such as course management are added.

The alliance evolved from discussions between Ohio State and UC that began over two years ago. Those discussions focused on ways that the institutions could develop closer information technology ties while jointly reducing costs and duplication of services associated with providing disaster recovery services.

Ellinger heads the project team from Ohio State, while Michael Calhoun, assistant vice president for Information Technology at UC, heads a similar team there.

To get the project started, the alliance was awarded a 2003 Wright Capital Project Grant from the Ohio Department of Development and Ohio Board of Regents. Wright Capital grants, which are part of the state's Third Frontier Project, support near-term commercialization projects at Ohio higher education institutions. The $257,000 grant enabled UC and Ohio State to begin building the systems necessary to exchange data.

To reach this point, both sides acquired, installed, tested, and refined mainframe systems that can be monitored and controlled remotely, and that permit each institution to transport both system components and application data to each other's site. Both sites have a full production version of each other's data. And both have sufficient storage capabilities so that tape backups can be updated on a regular basis to further reduce down time in the event of a disaster.

“While we selected the mainframe environment for our initial deployment, we have since tested and began deployment of services for open (server-based) systems at UC and Ohio State,” Ellinger said. “By the end of 2006, data will be replicated across the Third Frontier fiber network, which will provide an even shorter recovery time with a minimal loss of data should a disaster occur,” he stressed.

Now that the project is functional, Ellinger says it will also help other state universities and agencies. Those preparing to sign site license agreements with the alliance in the near future include the Ohio Division of Liquor Control, the University of Akron, Bowling Green State University, Cleveland State, Kent State, Ohio, Miami, Shawnee State, and Wright State universities, and the University of Toledo. By storing their data at the new facilities, the institutions will be able to execute their own data disaster recovery plans and processes more easily and at a reduced cost to that available commercially.

To help with the project, the alliance secured partnerships with several leading information technology corporations, including IBM, Storage Technology, EMC, PSR, Computer Associates and Advizex Technologies. These corporations have agreed to use the alliance as a test bed and development center for disaster recovery technologies. Ellinger said this kind of involvement serves to benefit the alliance as a nationwide leader in the development and deployment of disaster recovery technologies and procedures.