Data Center Saves $16 million a Year With NetCOBOL and NeoTools
Skandinavisk
Data Center (SDC) helps small and medium-sized banks compete with
larger ones by providing competitive IT services at an affordable price.
To maintain its long-term viability, SDC is moving its core banking
system from an IBM mainframe to the Microsoft Application Platform. By
doing so, SDC can deliver 99.8 percent availability, increase agility,
and provide high performance. In addition, the company can save more
than DKK100 million (U.S.$16 million) in yearly operational costs.
Mission-Critical Systems
The IT infrastructure at SDC supports the delivery and management of 5.8
million accounts at 146 Scandinavian banks. Any system outage
jeopardizes the ability of SDC and its customers to conduct business.
Solution Overview
In June 2007, SDC decided to move its core banking system from a
mainframe to a more modern platform. Although the company had previously
used Java and software from BEA Systems, SDC chose to move its
mission-critical system to the Microsoft Application Platform. “When we
compared all of the possible solutions, we found that the Microsoft .NET
Framework is more open in terms of the programming languages it
supports,” explains Robert Elgaard, Chief Technology Officer at SDC.
“And by using Fujitsu NetCOBOL for .NET, we could instantly compile 80
percent of our existing mainframe software.”
In March 2009, SDC began to design and test its solution, which will run
in parallel with the mainframe until 2012—when the implementation is
complete. To help, SDC engaged Microsoft Services. Its consultants
worked with SDC to configure the new infrastructure so that it provides
for high availability and reliability. Thirty mirrored Fujitsu PRIMERGY
RX300 S6 server computers support the solution, which includes the
following key components:
- Microsoft SQL Server 2008 data management software. Will store all mission-critical data.
- The Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system. Provides the foundation software for the core banking system.
- The Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5. Supports a common development and runtime environment for the system.
- Microsoft Host Integration Server 2006. Works with an existing
enterprise service bus—developed with the .NET Framework in 2004—to help
direct the flow of transactions between the new and existing systems.
- Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2. Gives IT
administrators a central console and tool set to manage and monitor
server computers.
- Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2. Offers a centralized console to assess, deploy, and update software.
- The Microsoft Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Suite development
system. Provides an integrated environment with built-in tools for
database development.
- Fujitsu NetCOBOL for .NET Enterprise from Alchemy Solutions.
Compiles existing software from the mainframe so that it can run on the
.NET Framework.
Business Pain Points Addressed
Banks engage SDC to take advantage of an enterprise-class IT
infrastructure at an affordable and predictable price. To successfully
deliver on this business model, SDC must use existing investments and
implement new technologies as needed. Any changes to the IT
infrastructure need to be virtually invisible to customers and their
clients, who depend on the systems around the clock. With help from
Microsoft Services and third-party vendors including Fujitsu and Alchemy
Solutions, SDC is migrating its core banking system to the Microsoft
Application Platform so that it can:
- Support a seamless transition from the mainframe.
- Maintain high availability and the current workload of more than 20 million transactions per day.
- Protect investments by running more than 11.2 million lines of COBOL code on the .NET Framework.
- Facilitate innovation with a progressive development environment.
- Attract new customers and keep existing ones.
- Reduce annual operational costs by more than DKK100 million (U.S.$16
million) by replacing the mainframe with Microsoft software and Fujitsu
hardware.
Technical Pain Points Addressed
To meet its service level agreements and business goals, SDC needs
stable, secure, and flexible technologies that it can maintain and scale
at a reasonable cost. IT employees also require integrated development
tools to keep the company’s infrastructure up to date, create new
offerings, and support unique customer requirements. In addition, IT
personnel need tools to quickly identify and remedy any potential IT
issues—and streamline routine system management tasks. By replacing its
mainframe with the Microsoft Application Platform, SDC can:
- Maintain 99.8 percent availability.
- Run the same code base in parallel on the mainframe and the .NET Framework.
- Use a central console to manage and monitor software components.
- Take advantage of the extensive knowledge of Microsoft Services
consultants to mitigate risk and implement a solution that is highly
available, reliable, and secure.
- Reduce the cost and effort of scaling the system.
Top Reasons Why SDC Chose Microsoft
SDC chose to develop its solution with the Microsoft Application Platform because it:
- Offers the same or better levels of reliability, availability, security, and performance as the mainframe.
- Facilitates a gradual migration by interoperating with existing components.
- Provides a comprehensive suite of development tools.
- Offers the extensive expertise and dedicated support of Microsoft Services.
- Facilitates cost-effective scalability.
Conclusion
With its mission-critical data and transaction processing supported by
the Microsoft Application Platform and Microsoft Services, SDC can meet
its service level agreements and deliver innovative offerings. As a
result, the company can continue to give its existing banking customers a
competitive edge and be well positioned to attract new customers in the
future.
© 2011 Microsoft
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