Arcadiz delivers and implements new 100 Gb, encrypted optical network for Stater

Arcadiz, specialist in the area of broadband fibre-optic networks in the Benelux, has provided mortgage service provider Stater with a new optical network. The future-proof DWDM solution features greater capacity and improved security.

André Tenholter, project manager at Stater: ‘The updated optical network has seen to it that Stater can make optimum use of all the options of its new IT infrastructure, now and in the future. Close collaboration between all parties involved, where everyone has contributed their own specific knowledge and expertise, has resulted in the highly successful completion of the project.’

Availability is crucial

Stater is the largest mortgage service provider in the Netherlands. With more than 1,400 employees, it services nearly 40% of all mortgages in the Netherlands with its unique mortgage system. Stater collaborates with banks, insurance companies, investors and intermediaries. Many of its customers use the applications Stater provides with its services, the availability of which is therefore of the utmost importance.

Data centre migration

Stater runs two fully redundant data centres. However, the data centre based in De Meern no longer satisfied current requirements imposed on a data centre environment, which is why it was decided to relocate this data centre to Almere. The other data centre is located in Amersfoort.

Greater capacity

The migration of the data centre has also led to the replacement of the existing DWDM equipment. Once again ADVA Optical Networking was chosen. Capacity was increased to 100 Gb in order to efficiently achieve several parallel 10GigE or 40GigE and 8Gb/s and 16Gb/s Fibre Channel networks between the data centres.

Encryption

ADVA Optical Networking is one of the few suppliers to have offered encryption on its optical network equipment. Encryption can comply with American as well as European standards. Encryption at the optical layer does not add extra latency to data traffic. As part of the Mandatory Data Breach Notification law and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) an increasing number of financial institutions use this security on layer 1 of the OSI model.

Implementation

Stater has chosen Arcadiz for the design and implementation of the new Data Center Interconnect environment. Arcadiz is the only Elite Partner of ADVA Optical Networking in the Netherlands and has extensive experience in the implementation of optical networks.

The specialists at Arcadiz had initially created a high-level design of the new optical network environment, followed by a low-level design. As the decision was made to purchase new equipment, the entire set-up could be built and tested in situ. In addition, in this way it could be ascertained that the new Dark Fibre connections worked perfectly.

Separate management

The management for the new infrastructure is split into two separate management environments. The remote management of the DWDM infrastructure is handled by Arcadiz, where the connections are monitored proactively 24/7. Combined with the fully redundant design the solution guarantees maximum worry-free availability for Stater. Security management is handled by Stater, where the latter maintains control over security.