EMC Helps Raytheon’s “Data Fortress”

Defense, government and commercial electronics concern Raytheon said it has implemented an EMC E-Infostructure at the core of its recently-launched eCenter Technologies for commercial customers seeking the “ultimate in information protection.”

Built to meet stringent standards for national security, Raytheon’s Aurora, Colo. facility has already been used for more than a decade by the company to protect sensitive data on behalf of government customers. As a result, Raytheon said it is able to provide customers with reliable, uninterrupted data availability and the means to scale quickly to meet ever-expanding information storage requirements.

“Financial records, health records and insurance records are considered as important to businesses as national security is to the government. Shouldn’t every bit of their data be treated with just as much as care as the government’s national secrets?” said Ed Bush, director of Information Systems and eCenter Technologies at Raytheon, in a statement.

The state-of-the-art, 215,000-square-foot windowless building has reinforced cement walls that are impervious to sound. The company protects its data lines by encasing them in special conduits to prevent electronic eavesdropping and tampering. Situated on 26 acres of land, the building is manned with a security force, monitored 24×7 by an electronic surveillance system and is subdivided into 3,000-square-foot security “pods” to ensure maximum data integrity.

The EMC solution reduces the total cost of ownership for eCenter Technologies by providing efficient storage utilization and software tools in order to manage data from multiple customers on multiple platforms, as well as maximize data availability and accomplish backups quickly, frequently and without disruption, officials said.

eCenter Technologies has implemented EMC Symmetrix Enterprise Storage systems with EMC Connectrix switches and EMC TimeFinder software. The information storage network’s ability to work with multiple operating environments was an important reason for Raytheon’s decision to select EMC, as it enables eCenter Technologies to provide customers with the server platform of their choice.