How IBM zSeries is leading the evolution to on demand banking. · 7 IBM middleware enhanced for...

IBM zSeries software solutions for bankingExecutive brief

How IBM zSeries is leading theevolution to on demand banking.

January 2005

http://www.ibm.com/us/

http://www.ibm.com/ondemand

Executive overview

Rarely has the banking industry faced such a daunting combination

of challenges.

Topping the list, of course, is rigorous competition. As the marketplace

becomes increasingly transparent, competitive intensity grows in severity,

with existing players and new entrants alike scrambling to provide value to

customers. Traditional brick-and-mortar institutions and Internet banks

are locking horns. Financial institutions are looking for every angle to develop

new products and better service for their customers—or lose them.

With competition, there comes a related challenge: financial pressures.

Economic uncertainties and demanding investors are impacting growth,

revenues and margins. Many banks are looking to add revenue streams by

getting into other businesses, such as insurance and securities.

Meanwhile, consolidation is creating huge regional and national banks in

an attempt to gain a competitive edge in offering products and services. Plus

changes in customer demands, technological innovations and government

regulations are increasingly sudden and dramatic, prompting banks to evolve

from being reactive to proactive.

As if the marketplace weren’t posing enough challenges, threats have emerged

from more insidious fronts. Pervasive dangers become real and prevalent as

global firms see increased exposure to disasters, unstable geopolitics and other

market shocks.

It’s a sobering list of challenges—in large part, challenges that have emerged

rather suddenly. (Ask yourself whether you were dealing with these issues just a

few years ago.)

2 Executive overview

3 Responding quickly to demands,

opportunities and threats

4 zSeries is the on demand platform of

choice

5 Platform readiness: New business

value for the on demand environment

7 IBM middleware enhanced for business

advantage

8 IBM DB2 for z/OS V8.1 opens the door

to future scalability

9 IBM DB2 II helps speed application

deployment and control IT costs

9 IBM CICS V3.1 fosters reuse of existing

CICS assets

10 Integrated tools for development,

testing, deployment and management

10 Subcapacity pricing bases software

charges on LPAR utilization

11 For three business goals, a single

platform emerges

12 Real-world examples of the power of

zSeries

14 Security: A definitive platform for

business continuity

15 The difference between flawless

execution and slow response times

16 Flexibility: Move mass amounts of data

in and out

16 Simplify infrastructure and reduce TCO

17 Easily integrate new solutions with

legacy systems

18 zSeries: Platform of choice for

IT management

Contents

How IBM zSeries is leading the evolution to on demand banking.

And in boardrooms around the world, banking executives are swiftly

coming to the realization that they must respond by beefing up three critical

characteristics of their organizations:

• Efficiency. In a highly competitive environment, operations must run

leaner. Banks are analyzing every part of their organizations to gain

efficiencies and better compete. And they’re realizing that cost structures

must fundamentally change—by eliminating some processes and

automating and integrating others. IT budgets are being cut or leveled off,

yet IT must support the needs of the business and prepare for the future of

the business.

• Resiliency. “May you live in interesting times,” according to an old

proverb. From a security and risk perspective, these are interesting times

indeed. Banks are stabilizing their earnings by reducing capital reserve

requirements associated with all forms of risk. They’re also stabilizing

their IT environments to help eliminate downtime and fend off intrusions

that could cripple business.

• Differentiation. Growing revenue requires becoming attuned to customer

insights and demands and finding new ways to distinguish products and

services from the competition. Banks are becoming more customer-

centric, developing new and innovative offerings, networking with other

providers and opening up multiple channels to reach customers.

Responding quickly to demands, opportunities and threats

How are these goals being achieved? With nothing short of a dramatic business

transformation. Individual banks are compartmentalizing themselves into

component-based businesses, leveraging best-in-class components from

sources throughout the networked industry. Some are even choosing to become

more specialized—in distribution, product manufacturing or processing—and

abandoning nonpriority functions.


Internal restructuring isn’t the only trend. Banks are also focusing outward,

abandoning independent, vertically integrated business models and building

networks of affiliated financial institutions. The seamless connectivity and

efficiencies that were previously confined to a component-based business are

now being combined with the specialization and scale made possible by a fully

networked industry.

In short, banks are breaking down both internal and external walls, then

integrating processes end to end—within the organization and with key

customers, partners and suppliers—to respond quickly to any customer demand,

market opportunity or external threat. They’re making full use of resources to

be more productive and innovative and differentiating their offerings to capture

new value. They’re re-evaluating their business processes, technological

infrastructure and corporate culture.

This new business flexibility requires new IT flexibility, and technology

resources must be aligned with modified strategic priorities. IT infrastructure

must evolve to cost-effectively support component-based businesses, to

automate and virtualize resources, and to enhance business performance

management. Banks are transforming the way they are run.

There’s a term for all this. It’s called “on demand.”

zSeries is the on demand platform of choice

In an on demand banking environment, everything happens at an

accelerated pace—and with good reason: Customers’ needs change. The

regulatory environment shifts. The marketplace evolves and expands. And

IT professionals must anticipate and rapidly respond, as well as streamline

and integrate core applications and systems to maximize their technology

resources. And, of course, they must do all this based on a rock-solid, high-

performing and secure architecture.


For such a critical business initiative, IT executives in the banking industry

are understandably seeking the inherent strengths of the mainframe built

specifically for on demand banking. And they are finding it in the

IBM ® zSeries® which offers a powerful platform for on demand

banking—a platform on which many institutions are relying on 99.999

percent availability, fortress-like security and performance under extremely

demanding conditions.

It stands to reason that the zSeries platform is well-equipped to handle

sophisticated banking applications. After all, it was designed and built by a

company with decades of deep experience in banking technology.

IBM mainframes form the IT backbone of many of the world’s 500 largest

banks, including titans of the industry such as Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase,

HSBC, Mizuho, Bank of China and UBS. Our client roster also includes

financial services firms such as Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Morgan

Stanley, as well as online brokerages such as Charles Schwab, ComDirect,

E*TRADE and Deutsche Bank24. IBM IMS™ and IBM DB2® Universal

Database™ systems currently manage the vast majority of banking data

worldwide.

IBM mainframes form the IT backbone of many of the world’s 500 largest banks.

Platform readiness: New business value for the on demand environment

In order to fully exploit zSeries platform capabilities, ready integration,

improve management and control costs, one must understand the importance

of platform readiness. A platform-ready business acknowledges the importance

of keeping its IT environment current. While enjoying the features and benefits

of new technology and enhancements, a business also will discover new levels

of business value in platform readiness that can help take full advantage of the

on demand operating environment.


Platform Readiness Is Key

To handle new workloads and manage existing workload while keeping costs

controlled, platform readiness is an important step.

Platform readiness has multiple layers. Two of them, the hardware (the

platform itself) and the operating system, are inextricably linked. The

platform’s fundamental assets center on workload sharing, security,

availability, scalability and the ability to run multiple-mix, mainframe-unique

workloads. IBM drives these forward to meet the ever-increasing demands of

extreme commercial computing.

The relationship between the two layers demonstrates the value of running the

latest zSeries 890 and zSeries 990 along with the IBM z/OS® operating system.

The innovative new zSeries Application Assist Processor (zAAP) facility lets

organizations run Java™ workload with no additional software costs and

enhanced performance capabilities. These can help drive down the cost of

running the zSeries platform while helping increase throughput—significantly

improving the economics of running new workloads on the zSeries platform.


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zSeries users have a long history of developing mission-critical applications

on the platform. Many z/OS customers have millions of dollars invested in

business-critical applications that operate and evolve on z/OS, having started

on its predecessors more than 20 years ago.

IBM middleware enhanced for business advantage

Another platform-readiness layer is middleware, enhanced so that zSeries

middleware components—IBM CICS®, DB2 Universal Database, IMS, IBM

WebSphere® MQ and IBM WebSphere Application Server—can interact

with each other, as well as with Java through service-oriented architecture

techniques and Java links. Java’s industry-standard open interfaces let users

transparently download and seamlessly run applications. The IBM middleware

products continue to be enhanced. New capabilities are enabling composite

applications to be created and added, with years of legacy applications and data

assets quickly turned into business advantages.

Today, IBM provides the most comprehensive information management

solutions in the industry—just as it has for the past 40 years and will continue to

do so far into the future. These solutions span the entire spectrum of enterprise

information requirements, from extraordinarily high-volume, ironclad,

transaction-driven systems, to universal storage and retrieval of diverse

unstructured content, to deep-dive, introspective business intelligence analysis

and ad hoc rapid-response inquiries that help business professionals make

better decisions.



Key to these middleware products are the open industry standards upon which

they are built. When solutions are architected on open standards, no single

vendor owns or controls the technology used to build the software. That allows

bankers to choose the best and most cost-effective banking applications and

integrate them easily with existing infrastructure. The benefit: freedom to cost-

effectively create innovative, revenue-producing customer solutions.

IBM DB2 for z/OS V8.1 opens the door to future scalability

The DB2 Universal Database for z/OS Version 8.1, which shipped in March

2004, and Information Management System (IMS) Version 9, which shipped in

October 2004, have been designed and developed as key building blocks for the

on demand operating environment of zSeries.

The DB2 for z/OS Version 8.1 represents a complete rewrite of the DB2

platform, opening the door to future scalability and making it much more

common with distributed SQL implementations. This is the first middleware

product to break the 31-bit computing bonds and begin exploiting the

enormous scalability of IBM’s 64-bit zSeries machines—allowing customers to

drive greater workloads through their systems and do more with less.

DB2 and IMS are integrated with the z/OS operating system and with each

other. High-volume, real-time transaction data from an IMS system can be

immediately propagated to DB2 for business intelligence and random inquiry,

and both can be managed from the same operator console interface. Both also

reap the benefits of a sophisticated z/OS workload management system, which

can be tailored to each business’s specific needs.

Major advances in DB2 V8.1 include improving data availability, reducing

planned downtime and allowing today’s demanding 24x7 applications to stay

active longer. As a result, businesses can implement changes to databases

more frequently and react faster to changing market conditions or unexpected

performance issues.


The move to a 64-bit environment offers significant performance

enhancements in DB2 V8.1, many of which can be realized with few or no

application changes. The performance enhancements drive down the total

ownership cost for DB2 applications, making each transaction more cost-

effective to execute and allowing a given server to handle greater workloads.

No matter where data resides, DB2 and IMS work collaboratively to provide

solutions to effectively run and manage enterprise operations. Together, DB2,

IMS and WebSphere ensure that online and Web transactions are processed

with optimal performance, in a secure environment, with the capacity to grow

databases, concurrent users and applications as business needs dictate.

IBM DB2 II helps speed application deployment and control IT costs

The recent launch of IBM DB2 Information Integration (DB2 II) provides a

strategic framework to help businesses speed new application deployment and

control IT costs. The DB2 II federation capability for enterprise information

integration allows applications to access and integrate diverse data—distributed

and mainframe, structured and unstructured, public and private—as if it were a

single resource, regardless of where the information resides. The cornerstones

of the DB2 II framework include data and content federation, replication, event

publishing and enterprise search.

IBM CICS V3.1 fosters reuse of existing CICS assets

The new IBM CICS Transaction Server for z/OS V3.1, due in early 2005,

provides a set of strategic access options to support modern TCP/IP

connectivity, including Web services, J2EE IIOP and JCA. With the right

external connectors and internal adapters, businesses can maximize the reuse

of existing mission-critical CICS assets.


Moving forward with new versions of DB2, IMS, WebSphere MQSeries® and

Lotus® Domino®, IBM continues to implement commonalities between host

and distributed middleware, enable more seamless movement of data and logic

and screens, and provide aggressive price/performance levels to make the

mainframe more affordable.

Integrated tools for development, testing, deployment and management

To help organizations further optimize their IT environments, IBM offers

a complete set of integrated mainframe tools that provide all the required

utilities for development, testing, deployment and optimized transaction

management, as well as database, infrastructure, application and

performance management.

This broad toolset provides deep function and affordable development,

integration and management of an on demand IT environment. It also

offers cross-tool integration and timely middleware and operating system

support. The entire zSeries complex provides progressively more advanced

service-oriented architecture capability for new levels of integration to users,

productivity and business benefits.

Subcapacity pricing bases software charges on LPAR utilization

In 2001, IBM introduced subcapacity, workload-based pricing to help

businesses optimize their data center investments and prepare their platforms

for new workloads. Since then, IBM has enhanced the program, extending

workload-based pricing to the entire IBM integrated tools portfolio. Sub-

capacity pricing, which bases software charges on an LPAR utilization

measurement, has also been extended to various zSeries International Program

License Agreement software, including CICS, IMS, Tivoli®, WebSphere and

application development tools. An IBM z800, z890 or z990 running z/OS in 64-

bit mode is the only requirement.

For three business goals, a single platform emerges

How are IBM zSeries hardware and software helping today’s banks achieve

their three primary on demand goals? Here’s how:

• Efficiency. zSeries allows banks to more effectively adapt to market

changes by moving from fixed to variable cost structures. Variable cost

structures combined with business process flexibility allow banks to

accommodate fluctuations in market demand and consumer product

preferences. Then, thanks to the resulting lower cost structure, savings

can be shared with customers through attractive rates and better-

priced products.

Savings can be shared with customers through attractive rates and better-priced products.

• Resiliency. With zSeries computing, banks can recognize and respond

to potential exposures to credit, market and operational risks—in near

real time—and reduce their capital requirements through robust risk

management. They can deliver consistent, reliable 24x7 service access

across the organization and around the globe. They can prepare for

unforeseen events and protect the firm’s assets, safeguard customer and

employee privacy, and reduce all types of operational risk, including those

presented by staff attrition.

• Differentiation. zSeries can help banks re-platform their core systems to

produce a leaner, more efficient infrastructure that moves faster and opens

up new revenue streams. Sales and service personnel can communicate

seamlessly with customers through multiple channels. Banks can provide

the right products and services at the right time to increasingly demanding



customers. They can sense and dynamically respond to internal or external

changes and gain the organizational capacity to act quickly based on

analysis and insight. They can choose to focus on core competencies

and build differentiating competencies where value can be added and a

sustainable competitive advantage can be achieved.

Real-world examples of the power of zSeries

The most robust mainframe ever to hit the market, zSeries is a highly

scalable system that integrates and manages diverse applications and storage/

network resources. Around the world, large financial institutions are using

it as the foundation on which to transform their organizations and enhance

their business processes. Just a few of the many examples of the power of

zSeries follow:

Multichannel capability. Call it reinventing the front office. Banks are creating

new ways to reach their customers and enhance the customer experience.

To generate multiple customer channels, zSeries offers industry-leading

virtualization capabilities and open standards. It provides a highly available,

robust and scalable infrastructure for consolidating and integrating disparate

applications—including branch workloads—on a centralized server. With this

kind of power to repurpose business processes, branches can be transformed

into full-service relationship centers custom-tailored to location and customer

base. Self-service capabilities can be expanded, offering a wider range of online

transactions. Optimal customer service can be offered through contact centers.

And consistent, informed services can be delivered across more channels

so customers can manage their banking activities how, where and when it’s

convenient for them.

Core banking. Thanks to ever-increasing processor performance and

scalability, bulletproof security and autonomic (self-healing, workload

balancing and self-configuration) capabilities, zSeries is an excellent choice

for customer insight and other core banking business intelligence. It’s also the

Better information, informed decisions for

Agricultural Bank of GreeceFollowing market deregulation, the

Agricultural Bank of Greece S.A. (ABG) faced

increasing competition, diminishing

revenues and eroding market share in its

loans and insurance-based service. The

bank also lacked a consistent long-term IT

strategy. As a result, it had only a vague

picture of its account information, with just 2.5

million out of 7.5 million registered accounts

assumed active. Without clear customer

information, the bank couldn’t provide timely

loan approvals—and even risked providing

loans to customers in default.

IBM provided ABG with an enterprise data

warehousing solution plus the tools to clean

up and optimize its relational database

system. Components included an IBM

zSeries 900 server running both Linux™ and

IBM z/OS operating systems, as well as a

software palette that included IBM DB2

Warehouse Manager, IBM Data Propagator

for z/OS, IBM WebSphere Application Server

Network Deployment Edition, SUSE LINUX

Enterprise Server for z/OS and Ascential

QualityStage Enterprise Edition applications.

With the IBM solution, ABG improved its

market position, reduced loan risks and

increased revenue. And by cleansing the

5 million dormant accounts in its database,

it ensured accurate reporting for issuing

loans, reduced the number of unsecured

loans not repaid, helped develop targeted

and relevant marketing campaigns,

and increased revenue from customer

target groups.

premier database server for key integrated application suites. With the IBM

DB2 Universal Database application, for instance, zSeries provides a rock-solid,

centralized access point for the customer while providing internal corporate

data required for analytics and segmentation modeling.

Payments. Banks are restructuring their payment systems—streamlining

front-to-back-office processes and allying with external partners—for

higher accuracy and accelerated service delivery. zSeries is facilitating that

transformation with leading-edge security technologies, including high-

performance cryptography and supporting middleware. That enables more

secure, efficient processing of large volumes of retail payment transactions,

including card management and ATM point-of-sale transactions, in a

continuously available and resilient environment.

Risk management. Is there another industry with as great a need to never, ever

let down its constituents—employees, shareholders, auditors, customers and

regulators? zSeries provides a secure, scalable platform for risk management

and compliance solutions, which require analytics applications to understand

and manage credit, market and operational risk. And the availability of the

zSeries Business Continuity and Recovery Services enables banks to offer 24x7

customer service, minimize vulnerability and restore operating conditions if a

disaster occurs—all critical factors in today’s environment.

“Not only is the security and solidity of IBM systems extremely high but also their quality of service is excellent.”Andrés Modet, Director of IT Architecture, Grupo Banco Popular


Banco de Brasil gets Web-enabledBanco de Brasil has a large and growing

customer base, and it wanted to let cus-

tomers perform basic financial transactions

through multiple channels, including home

banking over the Internet. While the bank had

an online presence, the site’s functionality

could not accommodate customer demand

or handle the demand of traffic spikes.

The result: poor response times, occasional

outages and unhappy customers.

The bank decided to replace its servers

with 16 IBM eServer™ zSeries servers

running IBM WebSphere Application Server

for z/OS software. With the robust zSeries and

WebSphere solution in place, customers

can now perform financial transactions and

obtain information via a link on the site’s

home page—with consistently outstanding

response times.

By improving its Internet-based banking

services, Banco de Brasil has seen

increased use of its Web channel by

corporate and personal banking customers,

reduced foot traffic at its branch locations,

made its services easy to use and saved its

customers valuable time. Since implemen-

tation, transactions have peaked at 2.2

million per day, compared with 1.8 million in

2003 and less than 600,000 in 2001. And the

bank now has a more secure, stable and

available environment that has been outage-

free since implementation.


Security: A definitive platform for business continuity

As banks increasingly conduct business over the Web, they increase

their exposure to external unauthorized access and potential disruptions

of IT infrastructure; stories of hackers, viruses and worms continue to

make headlines.

Now another threat has emerged: insider attacks and other white-collar crimes.

Last August, the U.S. Secret Service and Carnegie Mellon University’s Software

Engineering Institute issued a report titled “Insider Threat Study: Illicit

Cyber Activity in the Banking and Finance Sector.”* The report examined 23

incidents carried out by 26 insiders in the banking and finance industries from

1996 through 2002. Its findings: “Insiders pose a substantial threat by virtue

of their knowledge of and access to their employers’ systems and/or databases

and their ability to bypass existing physical and electronic security measures

through legitimate means.”

Combine insider threats with ongoing attempts by outsiders to intrude on

and disrupt a bank’s IT infrastructure, and it’s easy to see why data security

and business continuity are such top-of-mind issues among financial

services professionals.

In light of this, zSeries provides the most high-level security in the industry.

Consider that the traditional costs of a security breach range from $2 million

to $5 million. zSeries is designed to help prevent such breaches, as well as to

automatically manage high-security access and transactional integrity. Its co-

processing capability can execute a high number of encrypted Web sessions,

which means banks can manage security statements automatically instead of

having to staff up with security administrators and invest in outboard hardware

such as SSL accelerators.

*Available at http://www.secretservice.gov/ntac/its_report_040820.pdf


Bulletproof security isn’t limited to zSeries hardware. It’s built into all zSeries

software as well. Core IBM middleware—WebSphere, DB2 Universal Database,

Tivoli, Lotus and Rational®—protects applications and data from unauthorized

access. And the z/OS operating system lets businesses dynamically change

security mapping, such as authorizing only certain individuals to access certain

information at pre-defined times.

The difference between flawless execution and slow response times

In China, international banking requirements recently hit the mark of 50

million transactions in one day. This is the kind of load created by 24x7x365

banking on demand. And it is the kind of scalability that zSeries servers can

uniquely offer.

zSeries provides one of the world’s most reliable and scalable environments

for running new on demand applications alongside core business applications.

It helps simplify management of multiple diverse workloads while balancing

resources across those workloads for optimal performance and maximum

utilization. zSeries manages these capabilities through advancements in the

operating system and supported systems management software.

One example is the zSeries Intelligent Resource Director, which combines

three key zSeries technologies—z/OS Workload Manager, Logical Partitioning

and Parallel Sysplex®. Together, they ensure that the most important workloads

have full access to the resources they need by constantly managing those

resources according to the changing priorities of the business. zSeries systems

management solutions have also evolved from technology monitoring to

end-to-end application workload management, enabling IT professionals to

proactively detect and resolve problematic transactions and system resource

issues before customer service levels are affected.

During spikes in demand, the ability to scale up and out at a moment’s notice

can make the difference between flawless execution and slow response times—

or even system crashes. A single zSeries server can scale up to millions of

transactions per day or scale out to manage tens to hundreds of virtual servers.

Flexibility: Move mass amounts of data in and out

“Flexibility” refers to the variable amount of data that an application needs

to retrieve from multiple, external sources. A metric indicating 5 percent in a

simple workload, for example, means that the application tends to have all its

data available without external access requirements; 75 percent means that a

high amount of expensive search and retrieval operation is required to retrieve

and process the data.

The zSeries is the industry-standard workhorse in the world of heavy input/

output (I/O). For 30 years, it has stood alone in its ability to process transactions

that require massive amounts of I/O.

Simplify infrastructure and reduce TCO

As on demand banking evolves, “server sprawl” and infrastructure complexity

can emerge as problems. Distributed server farms, with dozens or hundreds

of dedicated machines handling single applications or population inevitably

create increased complexity. This translates into time lost, increased

administrative burdens, unplanned downtime, weak security, unstable

transaction paths—essentially the same list of problems that accompanied early

client/server architectures. The penalty is higher total cost of ownership (TCO)

and the lack of a stable foundation for steady growth—even though the cost of

acquiring the individual “commoditized” servers is relatively low.

Enter zSeries, the centerpiece of a simplified, end-to-end infrastructure

solution that eliminates server sprawl and all its associated complexities.

Leveraging virtualization capabilities, the zSeries solution is a natural

choice to simplify IT infrastructure solutions, including hardware, operating


Grupo Banco Popular scales up to

reduce risk Grupo Banco Popular’s online business

increased by 45 percent in 2003, encom-

passing 1.2 million users. Combined with

the workload generated by business growth,

the bank’s IT infrastructure had reached

capacity. Senior management was also

concerned that its lone mainframe server

represented a single point of failure, putting

the business at risk.

The bank met the challenge with an

innovative IBM zSeries Parallel Sysplex

solution. All of Banco Popular’s customer

account transactions now are managed by

two zSeries servers—its existing IBM zSeries

900 server and a new zSeries 900—which

run IBM CICS and WebSphere MQ. Creating

a Parallel Sysplex environment, the bank

solved the immediate issue of scalability

and fault tolerance, thus opening the way

to future growth and exceptional customer

satisfaction.

Now Banco Popular delivers always-on

banking services with robust support for

round-the-clock business operations. It has

increased its processing capacity with the

same staffing and support levels. And it has

helped reduce business risks associated

with single point of failure.

environments, data management, transaction processing facilities, application

development and systems management. The result: completeness with vastly

diminished complexity and lower total cost of ownership.

“We have an architecture that handles both legacy and new applications and offers robust and cost-effective disaster recovery capabilities.” Giorgio Seronello, IT Director, Banca Carige

Easily integrate new solutions with legacy systems

To achieve the flexibility and componentization that are the hallmarks of

an on demand environment, a bank’s IT infrastructure must evolve from

silos of complex, over-provisioned, proprietary hardware and software to a

standards-based infrastructure where capacity can be optimized across the

entire organization and beyond. And that is no small task for institutions with

decades-old legacy systems in place.

Over the years, multiple banking services have been deployed on disparate IT

platforms. Legacy core checking and savings accounts were placed on many

different IMS systems, acquired at different times from different sources for

different functions. Then loans and other financing services were offered,

with the new functionality deployed on CICS-based infrastructure. Inevitable

mergers and acquisitions added still more layers of complexity in the form

of new, often incompatible IT systems. The result is a morass that must be

deconstructed to understand the relationships between banking operations

systems and customer-facing applications and services.


Raiffeisen automates and simplifiesThe Raiffeisen Group, a Swiss banking

concern, had grown to 1,300 branches,

serving 2 million customers and managing 82

billion Swiss francs (US$54.7 billion). With

that kind of growth, it needed to integrate

disparate banking applications and prepare

its IT environment for future needs.

Raiffeisen found the answer in a central

communications platform, or “banking bus,”

based on an IBM zSeries server running IBM

WebSphere MQ and IBM WebSphere MQ

Integrator software.

Now its business processes are readily

automated and simplified, reducing manual

tasks for nearly 900 employees while

increasing time available for personal

customer service. Automating its business

processes has accelerated execution of

customer orders and yielded better

customer service.

So how does a bank combine core services into one system without having to

reinvent the wheel? The answer lies in integrating and redeploying critical

financial applications on the zSeries mainframe running the z/OS operating

system. The goal: Leverage the power of the mainframe to increase the value

and accessibility of existing applications by integrating them into the new on

demand business IT environment.

If a bank chooses, it can begin by transforming business application

components on a small scale. A single vertical silo or process can be integrated,

and the rewards can be reinvested in the next business improvement. In this

manner, a cycle begins, improving the bank’s competitive position for years

to come.

zSeries: Platform of choice for IT management

Competition. Demanding customers. New channels. Consolidation. Security

threats. As banking enters a new world—the on demand world—the ability

to detect and respond to changing market conditions, customer needs and

external threats is a critical factor in determining success or failure. Business

processes must become more flexible—and so must technology infrastructure.

Your customers want dependable services that allow them to get the most

out of their business relationship with you, just as your company should be

getting the most from your investments of capital, time and personnel. To

ready your business for the on demand operating environment, you must keep

your IT environment flexible, integrated and supported by the latest enabling

technologies.

In the new on demand environment, you must make full use of your resources

in order to be more productive and innovative and to differentiate your

organization to deliver new value. You must transform business designs by

breaking down internal silos and integrating business processes end to end and

by outsourcing noncore processes to strategic partners.


Banca Carige retools its legacy systemGenoa, Italy-based Banca Carige was

growing at nearly 15 percent a year, and its

managers were looking for new ways to

improve the efficiency of its legacy system

and provide additional offerings to

customers.

To meet its combined needs for openness

and resilience, Banca Carige selected an

IBM zSeries solution running both IBM z/OS

and Linux. The environment runs IBM CICS

for legacy workload, with IBM WebSphere

Application Server for Web workload. This

combination allows the bank to preserve its

investment in existing legacy systems while

taking advantage of open systems to

minimize business risk and enable dynamic

new services to be developed.

Now Banca Carige runs legacy applications

alongside new Java applications within the

same robust environment. Its dual, redundant

zSeries servers give it a cost-effective

disaster recovery option, as well as highly

stable and reliable systems for assured

business continuity.

To reach these goals, you need a platform that seamlessly integrates not only

hardware, operating system and middleware but also people, processes and

information. Your platform must do so in a way that allows your bank to become

more flexible to the dynamics of the markets, customers and competitors

around you.

The platform of choice to achieve this integration? IBM zSeries, which delivers

the capabilities to facilitate:

• Business modeling, which enables the graphical depiction and simulation

of a business process, including task descriptions, resources required and

decision points.

• Process transformation, which enables existing applications and

information to be reused in new ways.

• Application and information integration, which enables multiple

information sources and business applications to be combined.

• Access, which extends data and information to new classes of devices and

methods of interaction, regardless of connection type.

• Collaboration, which allows users to interact in a personalized way with

dynamic information, applications, processes and people.

• Business process management, which lets you model, deploy and analyze

processes with the goal of managing the end-to-end business process.

IBM encourages you to take a look at your IT environment and ask yourself:

Is your platform ready for on demand? Is it ready to become more open,

virtualized and autonomic? Can it simplify business integration and, in turn,

enable business flexibility?

One platform can: zSeries, helping banks better manage IT—and, in turn,

achieve business transformation for the on demand marketplace.

For more information on IBM software for zSeries, visit ibm.com/software/

zseries.


http://www.ibm.com/software/zseries



© Copyright IBM Corporation 2004

IBM CorporationSoftware GroupRoute 100, Building 1Somers, NY 10589U.S.A.

Produced in the United States of America01-05 All Rights Reserved

CICS, DB2, DB2 Universal Database, Domino, e(logo)server, eServer, IBM, the IBM logo, IMS, Lotus, MQSeries, NetView, the On Demand Business logo, Parallel Sysplex, Rational, Tivoli, WebSphere, z/OS and zSeries are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries or both.

Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States, other countries or both.

Java and all Java-based trademarks are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States, other countries or both.

Other company, product and service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.

References in this publication to IBM products or services do not imply that IBM intends to make them available in all countries in which IBM operates.

The IBM home page can be found on the Internet at ibm.com.

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