Jordan Commercial Bank (JCB) deployed a Microsoft enterprise management solution known as System Center Data Protection Manger (DPM) 2007 to provide the IT Department at the bank with a better way to protect and recover data for key business applications.

DPM 2007 is a member of the Microsoft System Center family of management products, which are designed to help IT Professionals manage their Windows Server infrastructure. DPM was specifically built to protect and recover Active Directory, SQL Server, Microsoft Exchange Server, SharePoint Portal Server, Microsoft Virtual Server and Windows file services. DPM 2007 also blends the best aspects of continuous data protection (CDP) with traditional tape backup.

Tareq Nasser, IT Manager of JCB said, "We were looking for a solution that is easy to use, would take less time and offer better data protection and integrates with JCB active directory." He added, "By deploying a solution based on Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager 2007, JCB was able to improve the efficiency of its IT backup and recovery processes into 15 minutes only and could better protect our data by the multi-level data restore feature that DPM 2007 offers".

Zeid Shubailat, Country Manager of Microsoft Jordan stated, "DPM 2007 sets a new standard for Windows backup and recovery by delivering continuous data protection for Microsoft applications and file servers to seamlessly integrated secondary disk and tape solution on the DPM server." He added, "DPM will enable rapid, reliable and scalable recovery of data at the Jordan Commercial Bank as well as all similar enterprises."

Nasir Sadi, Infrastructure Team Leader at JCB who was in charge of leading the implementation efforts of the solution said, "The infrastructure team at the Jordan Commercial Bank selected and deployed the DPM 2007 solution because it stood out for being easy to use, providing a stronger integration with Microsoft applications and back up efficiency."

DPM 2007 continuously protects the core Microsoft server workloads to a DPM server or appliance, which then provides disk-based recovery and tape-based, long-term archival storage for a complete data protection and recovery solution.

Microsoft designed DPM 2007 to provide the best backup and most reliable restore for Windows Server applications. Previously, when a single email account crashed, the system administrator had to recover the whole server. Now with DPM 2007, the system administrator only has to recover that specific email account, which saves time, effort and resources.

DPM 2007 uses wizards and workflows to help ensure that the IT professionals at the Jordan Commercial Bank can protect data without requiring an advanced degree, training or certification in storage and back up technologies.

JCB also deployed the Diagnostic & Recovery tools module of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP), and planning to deploy the rest of modules in due course, which will provide IT professionals with the ability to better control desktops at the bank, by accelerating and simplifying desktop deployments and management, increasing operational efficiency and creating a dynamic infrastructure by turning software into centrally managed services.

The deployment of DPM and MDOP come as part of the enterprise agreement that was recently renewed between Microsoft and JCB.