IBM Case Studies BLOM BANK's Rapid Expansion with IBM DS8870 Storage Solutions

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	BLOM BANK's Rapid Expansion with IBM DS8870 Storage Solutions IBM

BLOM BANK's Rapid Expansion with IBM DS8870 Storage Solutions

IBM

Technology Category	Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Storage Services Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Private Cloud
Applicable Industries	Finance & Insurance Retail
Applicable Functions	Quality Assurance
Use Cases	Construction Management Infrastructure Inspection
Services	Testing & Certification
Challenge	BLOM BANK, a leading Lebanese bank, was looking to expand its market share in Lebanon and the EMEA region. To achieve this, the bank recognized the need to embrace the omnichannel digital banking trend. However, this had to be done without compromising on data availability or efficiency. The bank had a solid track record of profitability and growth in Lebanon and the EMEA region, while following a conservative strategy that includes prudent risk management. The challenge was to maintain this winning approach while providing innovative products and services to customers and staying at the forefront of technology. Achieving this without compromising service quality would require the bank to find a stable technology partner, who could offer a technology mix that would enable growth, efficiency and service continuity as BLOM BANK evolves. Read More
About Customer	BLOM BANK is a leading Lebanese bank, which offers retail, commercial, corporate, private, and investment banking services. Operating in 13 countries in the EMEA with 257 branches, the bank has assets of USD 28.93 billion and the highest rate of return on average equity at 15.2 percent. The bank has repeatedly been selected as the “Best Bank in Lebanon” by recognized regional and international institutions, and has built up a solid track record of profitability and growth in Lebanon and the EMEA region, while following a conservative strategy that includes prudent risk management. Read More
Solution	BLOM BANK chose IBM DS8870 storage solutions, deployed in a high-availability configuration, as the backbone for its three-site data center replication strategy. This strategy links the bank’s primary, high availability and remote disaster recovery data centers. To ensure local and remote data replication under a constrained link bandwidth, the bank collaborated with IBM to implement local synchronous replication using IBM Metro Mirror, and remote asynchronous replication enabled by IBM Global Mirror and Metro Global Mirror technologies. The storage solution also integrates seamlessly with the rest of the bank’s IT infrastructure, which includes servers based on IBM® POWER8® processors and IBM DB2® solutions that support its core banking application; and a virtual desktop infrastructure solution supported by IBM Storwize® V7000 storage. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Storage Services

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Private Cloud

Applicable Industries

Finance & Insurance

Retail

Applicable Functions

Quality Assurance

Use Cases

Construction Management

Infrastructure Inspection

Services

Testing & Certification

Challenge

BLOM BANK, a leading Lebanese bank, was looking to expand its market share in Lebanon and the EMEA region. To achieve this, the bank recognized the need to embrace the omnichannel digital banking trend. However, this had to be done without compromising on data availability or efficiency. The bank had a solid track record of profitability and growth in Lebanon and the EMEA region, while following a conservative strategy that includes prudent risk management. The challenge was to maintain this winning approach while providing innovative products and services to customers and staying at the forefront of technology. Achieving this without compromising service quality would require the bank to find a stable technology partner, who could offer a technology mix that would enable growth, efficiency and service continuity as BLOM BANK evolves.

About Customer

BLOM BANK is a leading Lebanese bank, which offers retail, commercial, corporate, private, and investment banking services. Operating in 13 countries in the EMEA with 257 branches, the bank has assets of USD 28.93 billion and the highest rate of return on average equity at 15.2 percent. The bank has repeatedly been selected as the “Best Bank in Lebanon” by recognized regional and international institutions, and has built up a solid track record of profitability and growth in Lebanon and the EMEA region, while following a conservative strategy that includes prudent risk management.

Solution

BLOM BANK chose IBM DS8870 storage solutions, deployed in a high-availability configuration, as the backbone for its three-site data center replication strategy. This strategy links the bank’s primary, high availability and remote disaster recovery data centers. To ensure local and remote data replication under a constrained link bandwidth, the bank collaborated with IBM to implement local synchronous replication using IBM Metro Mirror, and remote asynchronous replication enabled by IBM Global Mirror and Metro Global Mirror technologies. The storage solution also integrates seamlessly with the rest of the bank’s IT infrastructure, which includes servers based on IBM® POWER8® processors and IBM DB2® solutions that support its core banking application; and a virtual desktop infrastructure solution supported by IBM Storwize® V7000 storage.

Impact #1	The IBM DS8870 storage solutions have provided BLOM BANK with a robust and stable backbone for its mission-critical applications, helping the bank expand its reach in Lebanon and the EMEA region, while retaining its focus on prudent risk management and preserving its low CI ratio. The bank has built a private cloud that enables it to provision IT resources with exceptional speed and flexibility. This ability is key to fully engage in the ominchannel banking trend. The bank can now quickly introduce innovative products to its customers across multiple channels without compromising on service quality or limiting its agility as an organization. The solutions have also boosted performance, efficiency, and achieved significant operational savings.

Impact #1

The IBM DS8870 storage solutions have provided BLOM BANK with a robust and stable backbone for its mission-critical applications, helping the bank expand its reach in Lebanon and the EMEA region, while retaining its focus on prudent risk management and preserving its low CI ratio. The bank has built a private cloud that enables it to provision IT resources with exceptional speed and flexibility. This ability is key to fully engage in the ominchannel banking trend. The bank can now quickly introduce innovative products to its customers across multiple channels without compromising on service quality or limiting its agility as an organization. The solutions have also boosted performance, efficiency, and achieved significant operational savings.

Benefit #1	99.9999% critical systems data availability enables reliable services
Benefit #2	Three times the performance of previous storage solution
Benefit #3	Reduced RPO to around 1 second at the remote site

Benefit #1

99.9999% critical systems data availability enables reliable services

Benefit #2

Three times the performance of previous storage solution

Benefit #3

Reduced RPO to around 1 second at the remote site

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Overview

BLOM BANK's Rapid Expansion with IBM DS8870 Storage Solutions

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit