Bank of Russia - Client Reference Video

By consolidating more than 200 distributed servers in 74 locations to four IBM System z9 Enterprise Class servers in two data centers, the Bank of Russia is saving approximately US$400 million per year and requires just 200 technical staff instead of 1,500 previously.

Video Transcript

Interviewee: Mikhail Senatorov, Deputy Chairman, Central Bank of Russia

I am a Deputy Chairman of the Bank of Russia, IT. All communication, computer centers, applied software, and technological complexes that support the work of the Bank of Russia are under my supervision.

Russia is quite a large country – eleven time zones, and we now have about 800 branches and payment processing centers located in various cities and towns.
The bank’s main task is to use modern technologies and provide prompt support of the functions that the Bank is responsible for.

The payment system is very demanding, it needs reliability and accessibility to information processing resources.

When the Central Bank was founded, paper payment processing led to jams which seriously influenced the development of the country’s economy. Because of these jams, it took up to 3 and 4 weeks to process a payment, and sometimes up to six weeks.

There were six types of information processing equipment, three types of databases, and 12 applied payment processing complexes which processed payment information.

In 2004 we got permission from the top management of the bank to start this project, and in 2007 we completed the consolidation from 74 processing centers to just two.

When the solution was first considered, we understood that we would have more options with IBM System z.

At first, we started with a small machine of the simplest configuration, used as a test.

Then we switched two regions to this machine, then three regions, and it was obvious that we could process the information from several regions with this one machine; and since then the processing speed has increased and we’ve had no problems.

When we started considering consolidation, there were 234 servers which operated in our 74 information processing centers. In 2007, we were able to stop using those servers.

The first benefit is that there are now fewer people participating in the process, and it’s very important, because when we had 74 locations where people were working in two shifts, with 7-8 people per shift, we needed 15-20 people in each center. And if you multiply it by 74, you get 1500 people whom you always have to keep well-trained.

Here at the two centers we have 200 people, and that’s enough to support both locations and ensure efficient operation.

We also went from more than 200 large information processing servers to four IBM System z servers. We cut the amount of servers quite significantly.

Another benefit is the scalability of the System z. For example – every year, the amount of payments that go through the system grows by about 20%.

Before consolidation it cost us about 11 rubles to process one payment transaction, now after the consolidation this costs us about 50 kopeks.

We have data on reliability starting from 2004, and there has not been a single failure on System z machines.

That’s why from the point of view of reliability, we hit the mark. From the point of view of scalability, we can add processors to increase processing capacity when needed.

For physical storage, we use solutions by IBM.

When we had 74 payment information processing centers, we had 74 databases. After consolidation, the data is stored in once place; it’s centralized which allows us to further leverage it for various analytical applications.

There’s a constant exchange of information between the processing centers. In case there is a total failure of one of them, you can restore the information and continue working.

Global Mirror and Metro Mirror are being used widely in our locations.

Payment processing is the most important task, because you cannot stop it. If you do, it’s like stopping the human circulatory system. And an economy doesn’t work without a payment processing system.

IBM has a whole team of employees who know Central Bank’s challenges, and that’s why it’s much easier for us to work with IBM: they know Central Bank’s tasks, they know the problems that need to be solved and they are trying to find solutions we can use.

The relationship between the Bank of Russia and IBM is built on a productive basis. And in ten years of cooperation we have not been disappointed. Understanding and support has always been provided by IBM. We value this partnership very much.