With Cohesity, CB makes backup a convenience

By adopting Cohesity, CB has significantly reduced the time it takes to back up and duplicate its data. The Cohesity data security and management platform, the Cohesity Data Cloud, also provides access to an archive search system, making it easy to find one file or document from thousands. The time saved allows the company to concentrate on improving the IT infrastructure as a whole.

The Challenge

Previously, GIE CB used a backup solution on disk, which was then duplicated on magnetic tape and outsourced to protect the cartridges. The entire process took about 48 hours. The backup ran on weekends, beginning on Friday evening and ending on Sunday.

As part of the renewal of its tools, CB redesigned its infrastructure for a state-of-the-art, simpler system, able to withstand the test of time and internal changes in the organisation.

In collaboration with Skill Partner, a company specialising in IT transformation projects and already a partner of CB, several software publishers were considered, but one solution quickly won unanimous approval. CB chose Cohesity for its operational simplicity, performance, data security and scalability.

The Solution

GIE CB uses Cohesity DataProtect. DataProtect offers comprehensive protection through a single, scalable solution that centralises backup, recovery, replication and target storage, with automated management for all workflows, regardless of where they reside—from virtual and physical environments, databases, NAS storage, cloud environments, and mission-critical applications.

Cohesity SmartFiles and Security Advisor solutions are also among the most-appreciated features of the GIE CB.

SmartFiles offers significantly more storage capacity than traditional solutions for the same raw storage space by leveraging advanced deduplication, compression, and capacity optimisation of files and objects. Advanced deduplication provides additional benefits by eliminating duplicate files across data centre silos. This can result in direct savings in total cost of ownership (TCO).

SmartFiles also offers a powerful search engine allowing users to find any file or even information contained in a file anywhere on the local infrastructure. Users no longer need to go through a long and complex process to find data. This feature makes finding documents and information much easier. It can play a key role in compliance.

“Cohesity allows us to easily search all backups, a very practical feature for finding old information in a file or email,” enthuses Stéphane Jouanne, IT Manager at CB.

Security Advisor analyses CB’s Cohesity environment, including a set of security configurations, and takes into account a multitude of factors such as access control, auditing procedures and encryption framework, which are critical to protecting the security of the data cluster. CB users then receive a score that tells them how they are performing against Cohesity’s recommendations for best practices. They also receive recommendations on how to address potential risks and how to protect their platform and databases from malicious actors—both internal and external—limiting their exposure to cyberattacks.

At CB, the migration to this new infrastructure was carried out with the support of Skill Partner.

In a first phase, the existing perimeter was migrated before the M365 protection was added, at no additional license cost.

The Results

The speed of backup and replication is undoubtedly one of the major advantages of Cohesity’s solution: “In the past, we used to do a weekly backup, usually on Friday evening; but the volume of data was so large that the system often broke down. When things were going well, the backup would take over 14 hours, and then the replication would start on Saturday and end on Sunday. Now we do a backup every night, with immediate replication, and the whole process takes no more than two hours.”

In addition, the security of the platform and the database guarantees compliance. The simplicity of administration and the ability to search by keywords are undeniably a plus: “What we like most about Cohesity is its simplicity of use; there is no need to touch the storage bay, and the replication is done by itself!” adds Stéphane Jouanne, IT Manager at GIE Cartes Bancaires.

Finally, the time saved allows GIE to rethink its infrastructure as a whole and to think about the next steps in its evolution, such as, for example, the implementation of archiving in the cloud, the migration to OneDrive and SharePoint or the hosting of data in other data centres (PRA or CPRA) by relying on Cohesity.

Key Benefits

• The speed of backup and replication is undoubtedly one of the major advantages of Cohesity’s solution
• The security of the platform and the database guarantees compliance. The simplicity of administration and the ability to search by keywords are undeniably a plus.
• The time saved allows GIE to rethink its infrastructure as a whole and to think about the next steps in its evolution

About Groupement des Cartes Bancaires

Created in 1984 to implement a universal and interoperable card and mobile payment system as well as a cash withdrawal system at ATMs in France, the Groupement des Cartes Bancaires CB is the governance body for the CB card and mobile payment system.

CB is the leading payment network in France, with over 65% of household consumption paid for with a CB card or mobile phone. It is also in 2022 :

• 76 million cards in circulation
• 50,000 Automatic Ticket Dispensers
• 2 million CB merchant contracts
• 15 billion transactions (including 7 billion in contactless mode), i.e. a volume of 685 billion euros)
• 2 billion e-commerce transactions

Its role is to list, classify, save, and archive all technical and legal documents relating to the operation of the discussion between bank cards and payment terminals. GIE CB also records all internal actions and modifications made to its documents in order to keep a record of them for a legal period of six to 12 months.

Each week, GIE CB must therefore store and back up approximately 18 TB of data, the weekly equivalent of a book of 4 million pages from 140 VMs hosted on four servers.