Published on 12-Jul-2006
Validated on 01 May 2009
"The System i5 and DS8100 have given us a single, highly flexible physical platform for all business-critical systems." - Calin Rangu, IT Manager, Raiffeisen Bank Romania
Customer:
Raiffeisen Bank Romania
Industry:
Banking
Deployment country:
Romania
Solution:
Optimizing IT, Server Consolidation
Overview
Raiffeisen Bank Romania, is owned by Raiffeisen International Holding AG (RI). Raiffeisen International is a fully consolidated subsidiary of Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich AG (RZB) Austria, which owns 70 per cent of the common stock. Its principal activity is retail banking, and it also offers corporate and private banking services. Raiffeisen Bank Romania has more than 200 branches across the whole country, and almost 800 ATMs.
Business need:
Consolidate and simplify both IT infrastructure and application architecture; create a single interface for all banking operations; enable faster response to customer requirements; reduce operational costs and boost flexibility
Solution:
Consolidated OS/400 and AIX systems to IBM System i5 595 platforms, with IBM TotalStorage DS8100; now building a standardised application architecture using IBM WebSphere technologies
Benefits:
Simplified infrastructure, offering lower management costs and easier scalability; resilient and flexible platform for business-critical systems; significant opportunities for greater operational efficiency, through the consolidation of databases and access channels
Case Study
Raiffeisen Bank Romania is owned by Raiffeisen International Holding AG (RI). Raiffeisen International is a fully consolidated subsidiary of Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich AG (RZB) Austria, which owns 70 per cent of the common stock.
Raiffeisen Bank is a top universal bank on the Romanian market, providing a complete range of high quality products and services to more than 2 million customers. The bank has more than 200 branches across the whole country, and almost 800 ATMs.
Raiffeisen Bank’s current strategic focus is on developing its market share while optimising costs through greater internal efficiency and responsiveness. In the technology domain, the bank identified a clear opportunity for reducing its operational costs through server consolidation and through the introduction of a single strategic software platform.
Calin Rangu, IT Manager at Raiffeisen Bank Romania, comments, “We chose to work with IBM to create an integrated application set, running on a consolidated IT architecture – for improved speed and efficiency at low costs.”
All-in-one solution from IBM
To support its future application integration initiative, Raiffeisen Bank Romania engaged IBM to consolidate its existing server landscape. The bank introduced two IBM System i5 595 Enterprise Edition servers, one for production and one for backup. The production server has 18 IBM POWER5 processors, and is divided into six logical partitions (LPARs) – of which two run IBM i5/OS V5R3, and four run IBM AIX 5L V5.3. The backup server has 12 POWER5 processors, running one i5/OS and three AIX LPARs.
Storage for the i5/OS partitions is provided by 6.4TB of internal disks in a RAID5 configuration in each server, while the AIX partitions use two IBM TotalStorage DS8100 systems with 12TB capacity each. MIMX software from Lakeview Technology replicates i5/OS data between the production and backup servers, while IBM TotalStorage Metro Mirror software is used to synchronise the AIX data between the two DS8100 systems.
Says Calin Rangu, “The new System i5 systems enable us to run i5/OS and AIX systems side-by-side on the same physical hardware, sharing server resources. This consolidation has reduced our maintenance costs and simplified our infrastructure, giving us the ability to respond more quickly to new requirements from the business. As we continue with our application integration, this will be an important benefit.”
Breaking down the barriers
Now that Raiffeisen Bank Romania has a stable and flexible consolidated server platform, the bank is progressing its plans for a single application architecture. The first step will be to create a centralised transaction server for all banking operations, using IBM WebSphere Business Integration Server. This will act as the hub for all banking operations, whether initiated by a teller in a branch, or by a customer via Internet or mobile telephone channels.
The bank will then build a common Web front-end using IBM WebSphere Portal, so that its employees will be able to access all existing functionality through a single simplified interface – rather than dozens of separate ones. IBM WebSphere Host Access Transformation Services (HATS) will be used to provide Web-based access to legacy green-screen banking systems.
“With the IBM WebSphere solution, every single channel will communicate through this single point of control,” explains Calin Rangu. “The next stage will be to create a single operational database to unite all of our customer information, and make it available across all channels simultaneously.”
By integrating data and systems using the WebSphere solution, Raiffeisen Bank Romania aims to update each customer’s statement of account in real-time. Previously, the accounts took 15 minutes to update after each transaction; now, this will take place immediately on-line. This increase in speed will enable better customer service and improvements in internal credit control.
Calin Rangu concludes, “The System i5 and DS8100 have given us a single, highly flexible physical platform for all business-critical systems. The consolidated server and storage environment will be simpler and more cost-effective to manage and extend in the future. It will also provide a good foundation for our ongoing efforts to integrate and modernise our application architecture.”
Products and services used
IBM products and services that were used in this case study.
Hardware:
Storage: DS8000, System i: System i5 595, System i
Software:
WebSphere Host Access Transformation Services, WebSphere Portal
WebSphere Host Access Transformation Services is now known as Rational Host Access Transformation Services
Operating system:
AIX 5L, i5/OS
Legal Information
IBM United Kingdom Limited PO Box 41 North Harbour Portsmouth Hampshire PO6 3AU IBM, the IBM logo, the eServer logo, eServer, OS/400, AIX, i5/OS, TotalStorage, WebSphere and Metro Mirror are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the United States and other countries. Other company, product or service names may be trademarks, or service marks of others. MIMIX is a product of Lakeview Technology and is licensed solely under Lakeview's licence terms and conditions. IBM and Lakeview are separate companies and each is responsible for its own products. Neither IBM nor Lakeview makes any warranties, express or implied, concerning the other’s products. References in this publication to IBM products, programs or services do not imply that IBM intends to make these available in all countries in which IBM operates. Any reference to an IBM product, program or service is not intended to imply that only IBM’s product, program or service may be used. Any functionally equivalent product, program or service may be used instead. All customer examples cited represent how some customers have used IBM products and the results they may have achieved. Actual environmental costs and performance characteristics will vary depending on individual customer configurations and conditions. IBM hardware products are manufactured from new parts, or new and used parts. In some cases, the hardware product may not be new and may have been previously installed. Regardless, IBM warranty terms apply. This publication is for general guidance only. Photographs may show design models. © Copyright IBM Corp. 2006 All Rights Reserved.
