Russian Railways (RZD) is working with IBM to improve freight and passenger operations, as well as the IT infrastructure throughout the network.
The project also includes building of three disaster-proof data centres based on IBM mainframe technology.
IBM has developed an IT strategy that consolidates 17 regional data centres and the main data centre to three data processing facilities in Moscow, St Petersburg and Ekaterinburg.
Data replication among the facilities will help in quick data recovery and reduction of workload in case of a regional disaster or failure at one of the operational centres.
Each data centre consists of two or more IBM System z10 servers running IBM DB2 and about 15 high-end and mid-range IBM Power6 servers.
Additionally, IBM signed a contract with Russian Railways to provide maintenance services for the data centres.
Prior to this project, IBM installed a human resource management system.
The project is expected to be complete in 2010.
