Data center operations presentation provided to cuasterisk.com network

On April 12, 2022, speakers from CU*Answers were invited to participate in the annual CU*SOUTH Visionary Conference, held this year in Pensacola Beach, FL to share with the audience details about 24/7 data center operations across the CU*BASE platform. Attended by more than 100 credit unions professionals representing financial institutions on the cuasterisk.com network, presentations were aligned around the theme of the “Power of Community”. As a credit union-owned CUSO and cooperative, partners on the cuasterisk.com network collectively manage core processing operations across multiple data centers.

“The focus of this year’s presentation,” said Jim Lawrence, VP of Operations and Business Continuity at CU*Answers, “was centered on consistency and resilience at the core. With more than 300 credit unions currently on the CU*BASE platform across six time zones, processing data local to the credit union requires careful coordination and orchestration of more than 8,000 automated jobs, with continuous monitoring and response when conditions warrant. Being ready for disruptive events involves a robust Business Continuity program with regular training and testing.”

High availability rollovers are conducted every six months involving all partners, including CU*Answers, CU*SOUTH, CU*NorthWest, and Site-Four to redirect live CU*BASE core processing to alternate data centers for a minimum of one week before returning to the production data center. “Unique to our rollover/recovery exercises is that every credit union and every member participates,” added Lawrence. “These live production rollovers represent the ultimate preparation test.”

Information about the CU*Answers Business Continuity Program including reports detailing the results of each rollover and recovery effort are available on the CU*Answers website. Included on the website are suggestions for credit unions to enhance consistency and resilience for business operations.

CUSO upgrading core technology using a high availability (HA) strategy

During the month of July 2022, CU*Answers will embark on a significant project to replace the server and data storage hardware that comprise the CU*BASE® core processing platform with minimal interruption of service utilizing a robust and mature high-availability strategy. To keep pace with continuously evolving technology and performance increases, CU*Answers upgrades the host core […]

Jun 30, 2022

Data center operations presentation provided to cuasterisk.com network

On April 12, 2022, speakers from CU*Answers were invited to participate in the annual CU*SOUTH Visionary Conference, held this year in Pensacola Beach, FL to share with the audience details about 24/7 data center operations across the CU*BASE platform. Attended by more than 100 credit unions professionals representing financial institutions on the cuasterisk.com network, presentations […]

Apr 28, 2022

System Availability website for core processing published by CU*Answers

On April 4, 2022, CU*Answers published a newly refreshed web page detailing the expectations for CU*BASE® core processing uptime. “Our goal each month is 100% uptime for teller and member facing applications,” states Jim Lawrence, VP of Operations and Business Continuity. “Realistically, even in a 24/7 marketplace, there are specific activities that need to be […]

Apr 6, 2022

CU*Answers conducts a dark data center test as part of their Business Continuity Program

On February 6, 2022, CU*Answers conducted the true test of any Business Continuity program by shutting off power to the production data center as part of a remodel project. Prior to the power interruption, recovery teams performed high-availability rollover procedures to redirect core processing services, including online and mobile banking environments, to systems at the […]

Feb 11, 2022