OIL & GAS

Computer Associates International, Inc. (CA) today announced that Shamrao Vithal Co-operative Bank Ltd, one of the oldest co-operative banks in Asia, has deployed CA's Unicenter family of solutions to simplify management of its complex, geographically dispersed IT infrastructure, optimize customer service levels, and support its strategic growth objectives. Established in 1906, Shamrao Vithal Co-operative Bank offers a full line of financial services and has an annual turnover of more than Rs. 2600 crores (U.S. $573.6 million). The bank operates a network of 38 branches and four sub-branches across three states on the west coast of India. As the bank's operations expanded, it became increasingly difficult and costly to manage its business-critical IT infrastructure. After evaluating a variety of vendors' offerings, Shamrao Vithal Co-operative Bank selected CA's Unicenter as its strategic management platform. Key factors in the bank's decision included the sophistication of CA's technology, the completeness of the Unicenter solutions portfolio, the strength of CA's support services, and CA's extensive presence in the Indian banking market. "We required an IT infrastructure management solution that had already been proven in extremely demanding technology environments, and we needed a vendor that we could count on as a long-term management partner," said Ravikiran Mankikar, chief of information technology, Shamrao Vithal Co- operative Bank. "Unicenter and CA were the only combination that fulfilled these essential requirements." Shamrao Vithal is using Unicenter solutions to monitor the health of infrastructure components, prevent potential performance problems, track assets, and plan capacity from a centralized location. The bank is also utilizing Unicenter ServicePlus Service Desk to increase the speed and efficiency of problem resolution. In addition to reducing operational costs and minimizing downtime, this automation strategy is enabling the bank to re- deploy IT staff to more strategic technology issues. "Our infrastructure is the cornerstone of our business, so our IT resources must be managed in a cohesive manner in order to ensure 24x7 availability," said Deepak Patil, chief executive officer, Shamrao Vithal Co- operative Bank. "Unicenter enables us to fulfill this requirement, creating an extremely stable and secure technology environment for all of our business operations." CA's Unicenter solutions are widely deployed in banks around the world to support billions of dollars worth of financial transactions every day. "The Indian banking community's embrace of CA as a management partner is indicative of both the sophistication of our technology and the strength of our company," said Ninad Karpe, managing director, CA India. "CA will continue to meet the needs of growth-oriented companies throughout the region as they make increased use of technology to achieve competitive advantages and enter new information-intensive markets."