Acxiom reduces risks and secures business continuity with co-location services

Company: Acxiom Australia

Web: www.acxiom.com

Key business focus: Providing information management solutions to help companies manage customer relationships and minimise risk.

Key challenge: Find a co-location partner who could ensure the continuity of mission critical applications but who would not demand changes to customer telecommunications supply arrangements or access modes.

Macquarie products and services: Co-location of Unix and Oracle production servers, backup file and Microsoft Exchange servers, fibre optic cable linking and disaster standby facilities.

Key results:

Provided business continuity and disaster recovery facilities to ensure round-the-clock customer service.

• Seamless transition required no alterations to Acxiom's existing customer arrangements.
• Security improved with 24-hour physical protection and additional intrusion detection systems.
• Acxiom and Macquarie forged an ongoing partnership to provide customer information management solutions to government organisations.

Safeguards round-the-clock IT operation without compromising customer service

“The main reason we chose Macquarie was the highly cost-effective rates offered. The facility was also located nearby in the central business district so a fibre optic link was already available, making high speed communications to our office more affordable. We were also impressed by Macquarie Telecom's flexible approach; they were prepared to accommodate us, rather than forcing us to fit into their solution.”
David Meiklejohn,
IT Support Team Leader, Acxiom Australia

Overview

Acxiom's customers require access to their information and continuity of Acxiom's services come flood, fire, air conditioner malfunctions or any other unforseen circumstances.

After an exhaustive search of potential co-location vendors Acxiom chose Macquarie Telecom due to its comparatively low cost, central location, professionalism and flexibility.

Macquarie Telecom's dedicated managed hosting facility, the Intellicentre, allowed Acxiom to disaster-proof its IT operations for a competitive cost without imposing unwelcome changes on customer supply or access arrangements.

The Opportunity

US-based Acxiom (NASDAQ:ACXM) is a worldwide provider of consumer and business data and Customer Data Integration (CDI) technology and services. From its 60+ person Sydney Australia's leading companies, across multiple business sectors, manage customer relationships with hosted data management, online data services, data cleaning and enhancement solutions.

In late 2001/early 2002, the company suffered a series of external outages which rendered critical systems inoperable. They caused complete system shut downs and made finding a flexible and cost effective colocation service a top priority for Acxiom.

Faults in the air conditioning towers atop the company's central Sydney high-rise office building disrupted the data centre cooling units and temperature in the company's core systems rose rapidly, forcing Acxiom IT Support Team Leader David Meiklejohn to shut down servers before overheating caused irreparable damage.

Having no backup generator in place meant the building power shutdowns forced the company to shut down its servers for the duration of the power outage.

By Acxiom's estimates, each day of lost operation cost anything up to $75,000. Worse, each non-operational day risked jeopardising long-term relationships with more than 200 customers who had entrusted Acxiom with real-time business critical solutions.

“We had no air conditioning for three days” said Mr Meiklejohn. “We were determined to prevent downtime from another outage and began searching for a business continuity service immediately.”

“The main reason we chose Macquarie Telecom was the highly cost-effective rates offered by Intellicentre,” said Mr Meiklejohn. “It was located nearby in the central business district so a fibre optic link was already available, making high speed communications to our office more affordable. We were also impressed by Macquarie Telecom's flexible approach; they were prepared to accommodate us, rather than forcing us to fit into their solution.

The company was already in the process of relocating its backup Unix and Oracle servers to the Intellicentre when a basement flood shorted the electrical system of the entire building, shutting down Acxiom's operations for a further three days. There was no access to the building and this time the whole office could not function as normal.

After the flood, Acxiom expanded its plans to co-locate its production servers. Macquarie Telecom was again the logical choice. Acxiom customers were accustomed to accessing company applications using their own telecommunications equipment and carrier arrangements. “Co-location services offered by large vendors would not have allowed us to easily relocate our existing links. Through using the Intellicentre, we avoiding incurring additional communications costs” said Mr Meiklejohn.

“With Macquarie Telecom's Intellicentre we retain control. Our customers can select their own telecommunications

The Solution

Should disaster strike Acxiom's office again, customer access to applications and data will be unaffected. All Acxiom office applications and production servers are co-located with Macquarie Telecom, including Oracle databases running on Unix operating systems, hosted customer applications, customer Web portals and Web servers.

Staff productivity can also be maintained through standby facilities for up to 10 key Acxiom employees provided through the use of the backup office space in the Intellicentre. Acxiom's remaining employees would be able to continue to access the company's production systems through remote access and VPN equipment housed at the Intellicentre.

The fibre optic link between Acxiom's desktop computers and the Intellicentre allows applications to run at full speed via the company's 100 Mbps Ethernet WAN.

The Intellicentre is guarded around-the-clock and protected with the latest surveillance systems. This has helped raise Acxiom's security standards, saving the company dollars it would otherwise have spent on contracting a security company.

The Intellicentre also provides an additional layer of e-security at no charge via the intrusion detection system which forms part of Macquarie Telecom's standard co-location package.

Results

Acxiom has been able to conduct its day-to-day business secure in the knowledge that should the worst happen again, critical systems will remain operational and productivity losses will be minimised. Acxiom completed the move of its critical systems to Macquarie Telecom's Intellicentre by mid-January 2003. With standby facilities in place, the company has been able to formulate full business continuity and disaster recovery plans.

The process of setting up the facilities revealed shared commercial interests between Acxiom and Macquarie Telecom. The companies are now bidding as a team for government contracts. While disaster has not struck a third time at Acxiom's Sydney headquarters, the company has been able to conduct its day-to-day business secure in the knowledge that should the worst happen again, critical systems will remain operational and productivity losses will be minimised.