Raiffeisen International - profiting from a better network
“ Our time-critical applications, such as trading, are affected by a downtime
of only seconds, so we have very stringent requirements for redundancy.”
Felix Buschina, Head of IT Infrastructure & Information Security Raiffeisen International
issues and challenges
Raiffeisen International operates one of the largest banking networks in Central
and Eastern Europe. Subsidiary banks, finance leasing companies, a representative
office and a number of other financial service providers serve 17 markets in Europe's
growth region. The conglomerate services 13 million customers through 3,000+ business
outlets. Although the Raiffeisen International subsidiaries are free to operate
independently, the banks share resources such as centrally hosted applications.
Banking is a fast-moving industry that relies heavily on technology; down-time
can cost billions of dollars and have severe repercussions on banks, their subsidiaries
and their customers, so a dependable infrastructure is critical.
Raiffeisen used a patchwork of satellite and leased lines from a variety of service
providers, which was complicated and difficult to manage. Employing centralized
management and time-critical applications was almost impossible.
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the objective: gain competitive advantage with an upgraded infrastructure and centralize business-critical functions for subsidiaries across the region.
the Orange Business Services solution
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Rolled out in just six months, the internationally managed multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) IP VPN links all banking subsidiaries in Central and Eastern Europe, including those in markets such as Kosovo and Albania.
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The high-performance network and managed service give independent subsidiaries access to centralized applications, like business-critical ATM card processing and trading as well as Lotus Notes and email, with guaranteed availability. Classes of service optimize application performance, giving higher priority to time-critical applications.
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Given the industry’s need for high security, this customized solution uses additional routers to encrypt all outgoing data traffic before it enters the network.
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Through the upgraded network, all Raiffeisen International banks now have access to all high quality banking-related resources located in other branches. This enables banks in developing markets to gain competitive advantage.
the benefits
The MPLS IP VPN allows Raiffeisen International to achieve maximum return from
its IT resource investment and to better serve its subsidiaries.
centralized applications and services
- access to resources located at other locations
- flexibility to move into new markets without infrastructure limitations
- one contract, one point-of-contact and one service level agreement
network reliability
- high-performance networking and full redundancy
- improved application performance
- proactive, around-the-clock network monitoring
- strong SLAs for guaranteed availability
state-of-the-art security
- fully encrypted data
- customized security solution.
results
- competitive advantage for subsidiaries
- higher performance
- lower costs
- better IT control
- easier management.
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" We needed to find a single provider that could offer coverage throughout the whole of our region so that we could have a single contract, a single service level agreement and a single point of contact - that’s why we chose Orange Business Services.”
Felix Buschina
highlights
- MPLS-based IP VPN connecting subsidiary banks in 15 countries across Central and Eastern Europe
- tailored security solution with data encryption
- entire access network upgrade to fully redundant high-speed connections
- fully backed by service level agreements
- additional services include local network installation and project management, IP telephony, Business Everywhere, international conferencing and enhanced support