Central Depository Services Ltd (CDSL): IT Smoothens Settlement

CDSL that handles demat accounts in shares and securities has grown six times
in just three years: from 1 lakh to 6 lakh. Its network covers 100 cities and
offers always-on connectivity to around 500 centers nationwide. CDSL connects to
172 Depository Participants (DPs) nationwide through its network, which spans
355 branches. Every branch has access to its online database. To ensure
efficient operations, CDSL had to strengthen its network elements like
connectivity applications, and hardware. Since leased lines were not easily
available in remote cities when CDSL started in 1998, the company used VSAT
links. All users in the same pool are allotted a fixed bandwidth for in-route
traffic.

The VSAT IDU (Indoor Unit) used to work in a "bridge" mode with a
single large subnet which allowed only six workstations. Subsequently, the IDU
was programmed to function in a "routing" mode. This allowed more
workstations to be connected on a subnet. Also, a Channelized E1 leased line was
implemented with fiber at the CDSL termination end. CDSL also uses 64 Kbps
leased lines between cities to link its DPs. The links between the CDSL main
site and the Disaster Recovery (DR) site were also upgraded to 4 Mbps. The whole
exercise now enables CDSL to have a seamlessly functional DR site, which
incidentally is hosted at the Reliance DAKC data center.

CDSL runs on an Oracle-based centralized architecture that uses a
Straight-Through Processing (STP) system, which ensures instant recording of any
sale/purchase action by the investor and helps the company achieve a T+2
settlement mode.

Key Highlights - Centralized Storage - Centralized architecture for instant transaction recording - Intelligent diagnostics like automatic disk faultfinding system Future Plans - Information-lifecycle management - Business-continuity planning solutions

With the kind of rapid growth, CDSL's decided to implement centralized
storage. The primary setup consists of two EMC NAS devices for storage, Oracle
for application server and Tuxedo as the middleware. The DR center also has a
similar setup. The NAS features multiple RAID levels and intelligent
diagnostics like automatic disk faultfinding system. Future plans include
implementing an information-lifecycle management and business-continuity
planning solutions. On the server front, CDSL upgraded its V-series of HP
servers to two HP rp7410 servers.