The HP Data Retention and Guardian Online (DRAGON) solution was designed specifically to meet the needs of the world’s network operators, which are being asked by governments to collect and store data on phone calls, messaging, and Internet usage, as part of broader efforts to fight terrorism, organized crime and drug trafficking.
HP DRAGON enables operators to capture massive volumes of voice and data traffic on their networks, retain it for months or years, and then retrieve selected records – almost in real time – when requested by law enforcement agencies. The system also has robust security features to protect individual privacy.
Of the 27 nations facing a European Union mandate, 10 are working with HP on their data retention programs.
“The enhancements to HP DRAGON are good news for customers -- and will help them comply with the new legislation,” said Nigel Upton, general manager, Business Support Systems, Communications, Media & Entertainment, HP. “HP DRAGON has gained widespread acceptance since it was introduced less than a year ago.”
Comprehensive and scalable, HP DRAGON integrates a wide variety of products and services, including HP servers and storage solutions, HP DRAGON software, HP business support systems software, and HP services and support.
“European operators are now moving forward to comply with legislation in their respective countries,” said Mike Davis, Senior Analyst, Ovum. “These deployments can be complex, particularly where an operator is present in more than one country, and they require many sophisticated capabilities beyond the obvious storage resources. HP’s
DRAGON approach is comprehensive and potentially the most mature offering in this arena.”
New customers deploy HP DRAGON
So far this year, HP has added new customers to the list of European operators deploying HP DRAGON:
· A leading European operator needed a simple and cost-effective solution to comply with data retention requirements for its voice and voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) networks.
· In Spain, a leading mobile operator deployed HP DRAGON to retain 800 million call detail records (CDR) generated each day by its voice services as well as text and multimedia messaging. The HP DRAGON data retention solution is expected to scale to 1 billion CDRs per day in a few months.
· One of the largest fixed operators in Germany needed a phased implementation of data retention capability for its broadband services. Initially, HP DRAGON will help the operator retain records for voice services, then Internet services and, finally, email services. HP is providing HP DRAGON software, hardware and services for the installation.
New features for HP DRAGON
HP DRAGON now includes software enhancements that add specific functionality requested by customers and mandated by legislation:
· Integration with lawful intercept systems.
New features that extend HP DRAGON capabilities include greater front-end ability to manage requests for retained data and lawful intercept.
· Configuration flexibility to support complex business and legislative requirements for multinational companies, mobile virtual network operators (MVNO) and outsourcing.
· Linux support to reduce capital expenditures. Using Red Hat Enterprise Linux on HP BladeSystem servers makes HP DRAGON more appropriate for smaller environments.
· Grid storage capability for highly scalable, low-cost storage as an alternative to a relational database.
· Additional data integrity features for more security and protection of subscriber privacy. Now, HP DRAGON can detect a change – or any attempt to make a change
-- in the logging and auditing areas. If a control rule is violated, HP DRAGON creates an alarm.
New benchmarks prove HP DRAGON performance
Recent benchmark tests demonstrated the HP DRAGON solution’s fast query response times and consistent performance under heavy loads. Using a database of 20 billion
CDRs, or about six months of data for an average operator, HP DRAGON consistently delivered 50 second response times. In a stress test of more than 100 simultaneous queries, response time was consistently under 5 minutes. Performance remained consistent regardless of encryption and compression levels.
Closer cooperation with ETSI standards body
As voting members of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute’s (ETSI)
Technical Committees on the Retained Data Handover Interface and Retained Data
Handling, HP is working to define key standards for the handling of retained data and for the integration of operators’ data retention systems with law enforcement agencies.
Adopting these standards can reduce operators’ costs by reducing the number of operators needed to process the requests received from law enforcement agencies. HP plans to incorporate the new functionality as soon as the standards are finalized.
Additional information on HP DRAGON is available at www.hp.com/go/dragon .
About HP
HP focuses on simplifying technology experiences for all of its customers – from individual consumers to the largest businesses. With a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure, HP is among the world’s largest IT companies, with revenue totaling $107.7 billion for the four fiscal quarters ended Jan. 31, 2008. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at
www.hp.com.
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