One Singapore bank has upgraded its mainframe infrastructure to support faster and more sustainable digitalization.
Mainframe computers have had to evolve with the times, and in the era of hybrid cloud computing, one of the technology’s pioneers has celebrated the twentieth anniversary of its 64-bit Z series launched after the 32-bit S/390 systems of the 90s.
This week, Singapore’s DBS bank announced it has adopted IBM’s latest z15 mainframe, which touts green architecture for 25% better energy performance over the z13 or z14. The smaller-form-factor z15 is designed to dynamically-handle ever-growing compute needs and is intended to support the bank’s digital transformation efforts in a hyper-secure, cloud-ready, scalable and agile platform with minimal disruption to critical banking services.
Due to increases in CPU-cores support, system cache size, redundant arrays of independent memory, network connectivity and other evolutionary upgrades, mission-critical applications are expected to show up to 15% improvement in core engine performance compared to the z13.
Under the terms of the agreement, IBM will also provide end-to-end management in simplifying the bank’s IT infrastructure to optimize existing software and application workloads. Said Jimmy Ng, Group Chief Information Officer and Head of Technology & Operations, DBS: “IBM has been a long-standing partner of DBS as we evolved our technology infrastructure to better serve our customers. We are pleased to continue this relationship as we now leverage the speed, compute power and efficiency promised by IBM z15 to meet our growing technology needs resulting from the rapid acceleration in digital adoption among consumers amid COVID-19.”
IBM’s Managing Director Martin Chee said: “This new 7-year agreement is a reaffirmation of our capability in the banking industry and the value we bring to this relationship. IBM will work closely with the DBS team, to enhance their customers experience through encryption-everywhere, hyper scalability, performance, availability and transaction integrity on the new z15.”
