INDUSTRY
HP Helps Philippine National Bank Retool for Global Banking
HP today announced that the Philippine National Bank (PNB) is leveraging HP's Core Banking Hardware infrastructure and systems management as it transforms its global IT banking environment over the next three years. 
To service all of PNB's branches worldwide, HP will supply a complete hardware platform for the bank's transition from a combined mainframe and minicomputer (AS/400) environment. The bank is moving toward a standard, open-system architecture based on HP Integrity Superdome servers running HP-UX 11i on new Dual-Core Intel Itanium 2 9000 Series processors (previously codenamed "Montecito"). The architecture also includes HP ProLiant servers and HP StorageWorks XP10000 Disk Arrays. PNB will be among the first customers of Integrity servers using the new Intel Itanium 2 9000 series processor, which will run FLEXCUBE, the core banking suite from i-flex® solutions. PNB's more than 90 overseas branches, all presently running on discrete systems, will be standardized on the new architecture, thereby improving processes in key operations like financial reporting and consolidation. Locally, the new system also will lay the foundation for the bank's global data center. HP also will deploy its team of technical support services engineers with expertise in project management and the implementation of core banking hardware and HP OpenView software for server and desktop management. "A service provider's support capability is very important for a core banking platform, and we found in HP that strong global capacity and maturity in technical support," said Cynthia Vicente-Javier, executive vice president and chief technology officer, PNB. Before choosing HP, PNB conducted site visits to current FLEXCUBE installations and examined the regional support centers of leading service providers. PNB ultimately chose HP for its on-the-ground technical support capabilities, which are especially critical in the bank's bid to strengthen its overseas operations. John Howard Medina, first vice president and project director for the replacement of core banking systems at PNB, said the bank was looking for a service provider such as HP that could meet the bank's particular business demands since it operates in several countries around the clock. "We looked at more than a dozen different core banking solutions from around the world," said Medina. "Each country that we operate in has very specific regulatory and business requirements that are difficult to address with one standard system. However, we were lucky to find a very good fit with FLEXCUBE software and HP hardware for all our domestic and overseas operations." The choice of HP as a key provider for PNB's most pivotal IT investment in recent years is the culmination of an intensive selection process pioneered by the team at PNB and subsequently cited as a best practice by several banks and vendors across the Asia-Pacific region. Nilo S. Cruz, managing director, HP Philippines, said HP's ability to measure up to the bank's industry-leading selection parameters reflects how attuned HP has become to the needs of this highly valued banking industry client. "The staunch commitment to success and uncompromising support HP has always offered PNB have honed us to be at the cutting edge in our niche as well," said Cruz. "Our success with PNB is a vivid demonstration of HP's leadership in the financial services industry, and we can't wait to get started." The Intel Itanium processor advantage Powering every HP Superdome Integrity server is the Dual-Core Intel Itanium 2 processor, designed and built to serve the most data-intensive computing environments, such as global banking, which have traditionally been served by proprietary mainframe systems. By delivering high-end server computing capabilities on a standards-based, open architecture, the HP systems give PNB new levels of flexibility, built-in reliability and proven performance for their mission-critical computing needs. The Intel Itanium 2 processor's EPIC architectural design also provides high levels of parallelism and computational capabilities, driving greater real-time running performances of FLEXCUBE at PNB. "This is increasingly important as companies strive for improved time-to-information and real-time business decision-making," said Ricky Banaag, country manager, Intel Microelectronics Philippines. "With more cores, more threads and built-in Intel Virtualization Technology, there are more reasons than ever to migrate onto more cost-effective Intel Itanium 2-based solutions, which are more robust, highly redundant and have higher availability than expensive proprietary systems." A strong business case In addition to the technology benefits, PNB expects to trim operational costs by at least 30 percent with the new system. It also is a strategic investment projected to be in step with growth in the bank's requirements over the next five to 10 years, as PNB strives to be among the top three banking institutions in the Philippines. "We want a system and platform that will grow with us," said PNB's Medina. "We are confident that our short- and long-term business objectives can be serviced by the FLEXCUBE system and that any business growth can be handled by the scalability of the HP hardware platform and services." The bank plans to activate the new system across its overseas branches by the first quarter of 2007. First to go live will be its branch in London, followed by branches in Japan, Singapore, the Philippines, Hong Kong and the United States.
To service all of PNB's branches worldwide, HP will supply a complete hardware platform for the bank's transition from a combined mainframe and minicomputer (AS/400) environment. The bank is moving toward a standard, open-system architecture based on HP Integrity Superdome servers running HP-UX 11i on new Dual-Core Intel Itanium 2 9000 Series processors (previously codenamed "Montecito"). The architecture also includes HP ProLiant servers and HP StorageWorks XP10000 Disk Arrays. PNB will be among the first customers of Integrity servers using the new Intel Itanium 2 9000 series processor, which will run FLEXCUBE, the core banking suite from i-flex® solutions. PNB's more than 90 overseas branches, all presently running on discrete systems, will be standardized on the new architecture, thereby improving processes in key operations like financial reporting and consolidation. Locally, the new system also will lay the foundation for the bank's global data center. HP also will deploy its team of technical support services engineers with expertise in project management and the implementation of core banking hardware and HP OpenView software for server and desktop management. "A service provider's support capability is very important for a core banking platform, and we found in HP that strong global capacity and maturity in technical support," said Cynthia Vicente-Javier, executive vice president and chief technology officer, PNB. Before choosing HP, PNB conducted site visits to current FLEXCUBE installations and examined the regional support centers of leading service providers. PNB ultimately chose HP for its on-the-ground technical support capabilities, which are especially critical in the bank's bid to strengthen its overseas operations. John Howard Medina, first vice president and project director for the replacement of core banking systems at PNB, said the bank was looking for a service provider such as HP that could meet the bank's particular business demands since it operates in several countries around the clock. "We looked at more than a dozen different core banking solutions from around the world," said Medina. "Each country that we operate in has very specific regulatory and business requirements that are difficult to address with one standard system. However, we were lucky to find a very good fit with FLEXCUBE software and HP hardware for all our domestic and overseas operations." The choice of HP as a key provider for PNB's most pivotal IT investment in recent years is the culmination of an intensive selection process pioneered by the team at PNB and subsequently cited as a best practice by several banks and vendors across the Asia-Pacific region. Nilo S. Cruz, managing director, HP Philippines, said HP's ability to measure up to the bank's industry-leading selection parameters reflects how attuned HP has become to the needs of this highly valued banking industry client. "The staunch commitment to success and uncompromising support HP has always offered PNB have honed us to be at the cutting edge in our niche as well," said Cruz. "Our success with PNB is a vivid demonstration of HP's leadership in the financial services industry, and we can't wait to get started." The Intel Itanium processor advantage Powering every HP Superdome Integrity server is the Dual-Core Intel Itanium 2 processor, designed and built to serve the most data-intensive computing environments, such as global banking, which have traditionally been served by proprietary mainframe systems. By delivering high-end server computing capabilities on a standards-based, open architecture, the HP systems give PNB new levels of flexibility, built-in reliability and proven performance for their mission-critical computing needs. The Intel Itanium 2 processor's EPIC architectural design also provides high levels of parallelism and computational capabilities, driving greater real-time running performances of FLEXCUBE at PNB. "This is increasingly important as companies strive for improved time-to-information and real-time business decision-making," said Ricky Banaag, country manager, Intel Microelectronics Philippines. "With more cores, more threads and built-in Intel Virtualization Technology, there are more reasons than ever to migrate onto more cost-effective Intel Itanium 2-based solutions, which are more robust, highly redundant and have higher availability than expensive proprietary systems." A strong business case In addition to the technology benefits, PNB expects to trim operational costs by at least 30 percent with the new system. It also is a strategic investment projected to be in step with growth in the bank's requirements over the next five to 10 years, as PNB strives to be among the top three banking institutions in the Philippines. "We want a system and platform that will grow with us," said PNB's Medina. "We are confident that our short- and long-term business objectives can be serviced by the FLEXCUBE system and that any business growth can be handled by the scalability of the HP hardware platform and services." The bank plans to activate the new system across its overseas branches by the first quarter of 2007. First to go live will be its branch in London, followed by branches in Japan, Singapore, the Philippines, Hong Kong and the United States.