CBA recruits for shared tech infrastructure
(3 May 2010 – Australia) In an effort to break the domination of computer giants such as IBM, Microsoft and Oracle the Commonwealth Bank has made the move to recruit international banks to join an alliance in which they could together move to a shared tech infrastructure based on cloud computing.
The bank’s chief information officer Michael Harte, in a recent speech to the Committee for Economic Development in Australia (CEDA), attacked legacy tech vendors for the slow uptake of cloud-based computing.
He also pointed out tech vendors’ preference to provide solutions that lock-in users to a never ending spiral of costly maintenance and upgrades.
Mr Harte said in his speech that what the bank is indicating is that it will never buy another data centre.
CBA will never buy another rack or server or storage device or network device again and I will never let any organisation that I work for get locked into proprietary hardware or software again. I'll never tell the bank’s teams in the business that it will be weeks to get them hardware provision. I'll never pay upfront for any infrastructure and certainly would never pay for any, or rent any, infrastructure that I would never use, Mr Harte argued.
The information chief also estimated that the bank spends almost A$500 million on infrastructure, and only A$150 million on customer ‘interactivity’.
He pledged that he would not implement an internal solution for a common problem that he could procure from a subscription across the Web.
The bank has already developed a small internal cloud for storage of common applications across the Web, but has set its sight on much bigger goals.
It has been reported that industry rumours are swirling in relation to a big announcement planned for mid may.
It has been suggested that CBA will combine with Bank of America and Deutsche Bank to create a global syndicate which will initially use its collective buying power to push down prices charged by tech industry heavyweights and encourage take-up of shared applications through the cloud.
He also pointed out tech vendors’ preference to provide solutions that lock-in users to a never ending spiral of costly maintenance and upgrades.
Mr Harte said in his speech that what the bank is indicating is that it will never buy another data centre.
CBA will never buy another rack or server or storage device or network device again and I will never let any organisation that I work for get locked into proprietary hardware or software again. I'll never tell the bank’s teams in the business that it will be weeks to get them hardware provision. I'll never pay upfront for any infrastructure and certainly would never pay for any, or rent any, infrastructure that I would never use, Mr Harte argued.
The information chief also estimated that the bank spends almost A$500 million on infrastructure, and only A$150 million on customer ‘interactivity’.
He pledged that he would not implement an internal solution for a common problem that he could procure from a subscription across the Web.
The bank has already developed a small internal cloud for storage of common applications across the Web, but has set its sight on much bigger goals.
It has been reported that industry rumours are swirling in relation to a big announcement planned for mid may.
It has been suggested that CBA will combine with Bank of America and Deutsche Bank to create a global syndicate which will initially use its collective buying power to push down prices charged by tech industry heavyweights and encourage take-up of shared applications through the cloud.
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