WAN clustering, also called geoclustering, high-availability clustering or remote

clustering, is the use of multiple redundant computing resources located in different

geographical locations to form what appears to be a single highly-available system.
The goal of WAN clustering is to support enterprise business continuity by providing
location-independent load balancing and failover. WAN clustering can be used for
just about any computing resource, including mainframes, file servers and software
application stacks.
The biggest challenge in WAN clustering is to make sure that system states and
their associated data are concurrent at multiple locations. Two advancements have
helped administrators meet this challenge -- faster wide area network
(WAN connection speeds and the ability to create and manage a clustered resource
through a single virtualized master identity.