NonStop Systems Introduction

Requirements of ZLE Systems

NonStop Systems Introduction—527825-001

2-5

Consolidated View of All Data

throughout the enterprise. The data store provides a single, 360-degree view of the

customer base and a single view of all operational data. Figure 2-1 on page 2-5 shows

how the ZLE data store provides a unified view of data for all applications in an

enterprise.

Data caching dramatically reduces the workload on the business systems, thereby

increasing the speed (reducing the latency) with which the data can be delivered where

it is needed. For example, if application A needs to get information from application B,

it may not have to access application B directly if the needed items from application B’s

database are cached in the data store. The business applications can go about their

daily operations without the added burden of keeping other applications’ databases up-

to-date.

As an example of how a centralized data store can help business, consider a private

medical firm that has set up regional data centers, each with its own computer and

database. Each regional database would hold the records for patients registered at

any hospital in the region. Identical copies of the patient-admitting application would

run in each region’s computer and would process records in that region’s database.

But what happens if an admitting clerk at a hospital in region A has to admit a patient

who has previously stayed at a hospital in region B? The application running in region

A’s computer has to access the database at region B’s data center to retrieve an

existing patient record. If the patient has a critical need, an immediate response could

be essential to a favorable outcome. But latency in the system could delay the

response from region B. In a ZLE environment, with patient records cached in a central

repository and maintained in real time and providing instantaneous response, the

patient’s current record is available whenever and wherever it is needed.

For another example, a business system running a home shopping service for a

retailer needs to process each transaction as it occurs, but it might also need to pass

Figure 2-1. Consolidated View of Enterprise Data

Local

data

Local

data

Local

data

Data store

vst006.vsd

Application