Greenberg Traurig L.L.P. Implements Global Connectivity and Business Continuity Strategy with Terremark

Greenberg Traurig LLP, an international law firm, combines legal, business, and governmental affairs experience to address the needs of clients ranging from emerging companies to Fortune 500 corporations. Approximately 3,500 users, of which more than 1,500 are attorneys, work in more than 100 practice areas. Recently, the firm undertook a business continuity initiative to ensure that network service disruptions or a natural disaster in one location would not affect operations at any of the firm’s other sites throughout the world.

Traditionally, each Greenberg Traurig office maintains its own servers, which house the data for that location’s users and client cases, and in the past, all offices connected to each other over a carrier-managed Frame Relay network service. Through the 1990s, this architecture met the firm’s needs well. However, as the firm grew from its original south Florida location, and Internet, email, and other centralized applications became critical to business operations, it was apparent that any disruption to connectivity could have significant consequences for operations everywhere.

“Back then, many of our critical systems were located in a glass building facing Biscayne Bay,” said Ken Schultz, Director of Technology for Greenberg Traurig. “We finally were able to move these systems to a data center, where we could secure them.”

Over the next few years, while the data center provided security for Greenberg Traurig’s systems, providing connectivity and high bandwidth to all of the firm’s office locations was difficult. The firm had to manage agreements with numerous carriers just to connect offices around the world to the data center. Many of these offices required connection to a local telephone company for transport to the carrier-managed wide-area network, which added local loop costs and increased the risk of service-affecting outages. Just managing connectivity became a time-consuming chore. In addition, new applications demanded higher bandwidth and the ability to carry IP traffic, which was difficult to deliver over the existing patchwork of connections. Greenberg Traurig began looking for a way to simplify connectivity and found the solution to its needs at the NAP of the Americas, from Terremark Worldwide, Inc.

The Importance of Carrier-Neutral Connectivity

“When we took a close look at the NAP of the Americas, we realized that the world had really changed,” explained Schultz. “While it is important to protect mission-critical systems, connectivity to all of our locations was just as essential. The NAP of the Americas offered carrier-neutral access to high bandwidth and flexible interconnections for every one of our sites.”

The NAP of the Americas is a fortress-style, state-of-the-art facility that provides highly secure and reliable colocation, peering, managed, and dedicated hosting services. The world’s major carriers, Internet service providers, and content providers are housed at the NAP of the Americas, enabling customers to take advantage of massive, carrier-neutral connectivity to businesses and consumers anywhere in the world.

Access to global connectivity at the NAP of the Americas enables Greenberg Traurig to choose connectivity for each office based on the best carrier offerings in that particular location. For example, the firm’s New York offices can connect to the NAP of the Americas over a highly cost-effective 100-Mbps link from one of the hundred carriers located within the facility. In South Florida, offices are linked using Metro Ethernet technology for fast and secure access. The NAP of the Americas is a cost-effective alternative to conventional transport, enabling customers like Greenberg Traurig to avoid many of the costs, delays and performance issues often associated with using a complex patchwork of local loops and long-haul transport.

“We could affordably provide high-performance communication for all of our locations around the world using approximately five carriers,” said Schultz. “Just as importantly, it is as simple as signing an order to connect to a different carrier or make a change. It is one of those rare things that is easier than you expected it to be.”

Protection for Operational Data and Systems

Today each Greenberg Traurig office continues to maintain its own data and servers, which eliminates the need to rely on communication links simply to access documents and files. However, each location’s document systems and files are now replicated to the ultra-secure environment of NAP of the Americas. If anything happens to an individual office, its operations can continue virtually from the NAP of the Americas.

The firm’s shared data and vital systems, such as accounting, payroll, email, imaging, e-Discovery, litigation support, Web site, and virtual conference rooms are located at the NAP of the Americas. Greenberg Traurig’s move to the NAP of the Americas more than paid off when Hurricane Wilma, the most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Basin, hit South Florida in October, 2005.

“We haven’t had any problems and of course, we went through Hurricane Wilma,” said Schultz. “It was the real thing and our plan worked.”

Improved Performance, Greater Value

In the past, increasing bandwidth for a location could be costly and cumbersome, and still not always deliver commensurate application performance gains. For example, in several locations the firm used multiple, bonded T1 links to improve bandwidth, but performance still did not approach that provided by 10-Mpbs or 100-Mbps true Ethernet connectivity available at the NAP of the Americas.

“Our goal was to provide much higher bandwidth and Ethernet-based connectivity that would be easier to use and manage,” said Schultz. “With the NAP of the Americas carrier-neutral peering model, we achieved a technology upgrade that delivered a lot more value for our money.”

Next Steps

Greenberg Traurig is implementing a second data center to help the firm add an extra layer of business continuity protection. As it searched for another location, Schultz and his team were reminded again of the value they receive from the NAP of the Americas.

“The NAP is superb,” he said. “As we shopped for a second data center, we realized again that we’re somewhat spoiled. There are many, many details done right and so much thought has gone into achieving the level of protection that we enjoy. We are doing everything humanly possible to protect our investment in our data and Terremark’s NAP of the Americas plays an essential role.”