Union Bank of California Turns On
"Lights Out" Optical Storage
Like an increasing number of organizations that need real-time
access to large volumes of data, Union Bank of California turned to computer
to laser disk (COLD) technology, a storage system in which report data
is written to an online optical storage device. The bank's conversion
team looked at all of the major vendors of COLD systems -one dozen-and
narrowed its selection to three finalists. After conducting a 30-day product
trial, the bank chose the FileTek Storage Machine, a hierarchical archive
server that accesses multiple years of managed data from public, private,
legacy, or Internet networks.
One of the primary reasons Union Bank of California selected
FileTek was the vendor's capability to deliver a totally "lights
out" operational environment. That means all data is online and available
to end users, for whatever retention period is required, whether that
be six months, one year, or seven years. In addition, no one has to operate
the equipment or handle the optical disk storage platters-it is a completely
automated "hands-off" system.
In the microfiche card system, a data file was produced
on the bank data center's IBM mainframe and output to microfiche printers.
After the fiche was printed, it had to be unloaded from the machine, packaged,
labeled, and sent down to the mail distribution center. In addition, a
duplicate set of fiche had to be created and stored offsite for contingency
purposes. Once the fiche got downstairs it had to be rehandled-broken
up or re-sorted by regional zones, and then put on trucks and planes and
shipped out to various regional offices. Another large percentage of it
had to go to a second distribution center for further routing.
Branch personnel would have to distribute fiche internally
as well. This fiche would get handled and sorted and re-sorted at least
three times before it arrived on the recipient's desk. Once that person
received the microfiche, they filed it in their local microfiche library.
With the old system, if an end user wanted to print a
report using microfiche, they had to have a special microfiche printing
device, and the print quality was sub-par. With FileTek's product, and
end user can print any report they want to their local laser printer,
and the quality is excellent. A number of users also have fax software
on their PCs and can fax a customer statement right from their desktop.
The FileTek COLD solution has streamlined Union Bank of
California's data storage substantially. The "lights out" online
optical storage system is less expensive to operate and more efficient,
reducing errors in data handling significantly. Perhaps most important,
the ability to access customer statement data on a real-time basis has
translated into a competitive advantage in superior customer service.
