AST will upgrade Absa`s IT infrastructure in a 30-month project worth R300 million.
The project involves replacing DOS and OS/2 platforms with NT-based technology; standardising on the IP network protocol; and implementing and operating a network knowledge management system for management of distributed assets.
AST will replace 18 000 workstations and other non-NT compliant equipment and change 37 000 network points at 1 050 sites throughout the country. Absa has already selected IBM`s machines to replace older desktop equipment, while AST will be responsible for installing the new systems.
Some of the current legacy SNA/Token Ring networking infrastructure will be migrated to Ethernet and IP. According to Pieter Bouwer, executive director of the AST Group, Absa will have to maintain much of its SNA network for the foreseeable future.
Richard Peasy, Absa GM, Retail Sector IT, adds: "SNA will still remain the only mechanism by which we process financial transactions. We will partition the actual pipes to run SNA and IP, but SNA will still maintain their top priority on those pipes. SNA will remain the backbone, and in the future we will probably then move to SNA encapsulated in IP, and then IP itself. Before that can happen, policy management, which is still in its infancy, needs to be understood and tested before we think about migrating."
"Ultimately, it will make sense for the bank to operate a single network that`s Internet-enabled; to standardise on a single cable - either CAT 5 or CAT 6 - in the branch, and to have fewer technologies," says Bouwer.
Absa believes the project, dubbed Project e-Preparation, will allow for collaboration and consistency between all channels to the customer, and will offer an integrated customer service delivery platform.
According to a SENS announcement yesterday, AST believes the project will improve the bank`s cost-to-income ratio. Peasy notes that improving the cost-to-income ratio is not the primary objective of the project, and will only be realised once the new infrastructure is in place and the bank can start rolling out new applications on that infrastructure.
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