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"In selecting a partner to perform services related to optimization and virtualization, it is very important to have a broad range of competencies and experience in this field. It is also significant to have well functioning cooperation / partnership programs with the largest software/hardware suppliers. We also paid attention to the familiarity with the Bank's environment, acquired by Comparex during implementations of traditional server technologies, when virtualization was still in its earliest phases" - said Mariusz K. Kaczmarek, Director of the Raiffeisen Bank Polska Information Technology Department.
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| 14.02.2008 Raiffeisen Bank Polska is a universal bank, owned by the Austrian RZB Group, operating in Central and Eastern Europe. It serves corporate customers and small/medium enterprises, in addition to retail customers.
It employs over 2,500 employees in branches nationwide. Together with its headquarters in Warsaw, it has a total of 89 locations.
The Challenge
Such diverse banking operations create major challenges for the Information Technology Department. The development of the bank is completely dependent on new IT projects. By suggesting new initiatives, aimed at improving customer service and developing bank products, business units give notice of their requirements for new information technology resources, required to achieve the goals that have been set. The IT Department's role is evaluating such requirements, subsequently implementing them, usually in connection with investments that increase the processing capacity of servers, providing additional RAM and data storage resources.
The substantial requirements of the Bank's business departments for IT resources is usually linked to frequent one-time purchases of infrastructure components. Such expenditures must be planned and implemented over time, which in turn causes additional delays in attaining business goals. Furthermore, data on IT requirements, based on calculations of a solution supplier, frequently turns out to be overestimated, which in turn
leads to only partial utilization of newly acquired resources.
The Solution
The Raiffeisen Bank Polska Information Technology Department has found a solution for this problem, consistently engaging in the process of optimizing IT resources. The concept of this solution includes three aspects: virtualization, consolidation and centralization of servers/mass memory utilized by the Bank. The Bank commissioned Comparex Poland sp. z o.o. to perform part of this task.
"In selecting a partner to perform services related to optimization and virtualization, it is very important to have a broad range of competencies and experience in this field" - said Mariusz K. Kaczmarek, Director of the Raiffeisen Bank Polska Information Technology Department. "It is also significant to have well functioning cooperation/partnership programs with the largest software/hardware suppliers. We also paid attention to the familiarity with the Bank's environment, acquired by Comparex, during implementations of traditional server technologies, when virtualization was still in its earliest phases" - emphasized Mariusz Kaczmarek.
An additional benefit was to increase the availability of all Information Technology systems operated by the Bank. Our actions consisted of implementing projects that centralized, consolidated and virtualized resources. In deciding to virtualize Unix and OpenSystems servers, the Bank initiated a plan to restructure
resources, approaching the optimization process in a planned and systematic manner. As a result of centralization, to fully functional data processing centers were created, in which management of all the Bank's units takes place centrally. Both data centers operate in parallel, which on one hand facilitates load balancing, i.e. the optimal allocation of information technology across all business units, so that the access and processing time is as short as possible, but also ensures high-availability for all mission-critical systems. Even under circumstances of a serious failure and reallocation of all resources to only one of the parallel centers, all of the Bank's IT systems will continue to be available, just as if the failure had never taken place.
The consolidation of Raiffeisen Bank Polska information technology resources also consists of using large, partitioned machines and disk arrays. Hardware being operated includes IBM p595 and p690 class servers. IBM p595 servers have approximately 60 processors and are equipped with 250 GB of RAM.
The third aspect of optimization was the virtualization of Linux and Windows servers, using solutions from VMware. After consolidating and virtualizing its servers, the Bank may effectively inconveniently expand its IT resources. Presently, when a new business project appears within the Bank, Raiffeisen Bank Polska IT specialists can prepare an environment in about 15 minutes, without the necessity of conducting time consuming procurement procedures.
The Benefits
Presently, the profitability of an institution is determined not only by its ability to innovate, but also its skills in rapidly deploying new ideas. The most important benefits related to optimization include a significant decrease in the time required to introduce new bank products, based on the east and developing IT resources.
"Today, the optimization and virtualization of IT resources is a key trend in managing infrastructure" - claims S?awomir Wolak, Manager of the Server and Operating System Maintenance Team at Raiffeisen Bank Polska. - "It allows us to immediately respond to business client needs and shorten the implementation time from hours to minutes. It also allows us to optimize utilization of expensive elements, such as consumption of space, electrical power and cooling resources" - adds Sławomir Wolak.
Increasing the flexibility and reducing the time required to implement a new business project has greatly enhanced the Bank's ability to rapidly react to changing market requirements. Raiffeisen has also succeeded in minimizing IT operating costs and reduce risks associated with business projects. Due to the higher availability of IT systems, the operating security of the financial institution has also been improved.
"Optimization means a definite end to problems with increasing the operations scale, connected with IT development." - summarizes Sławomir Wolak. "It greatly facilitates our delivery of subsequent new platforms for business" - he adds.
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