Leading Credit Card Company Taps OpenStack to Speed Time-to-Market and Lower Platform Costs

The technology-driven business unit of a leading credit card company was flourishing in its early years, successfully reaching consumers with no previous access to traditional banking services. However, as the prepaid debit card expanded and added online and mobile features, the division became increasingly reliant on internally developed software applications and on-premise infrastructure. By early 2014, the platform infrastructure to support the mobile and web-centric business spanned multiple data centers and technologies. Advanced server, storage, and networking solutions adequately supported application growth, however, complex processes to provision and manage infrastructure began to constrain developer agility and slow release cycles. A principal concern was the two-week period to provision software development platforms. A second challenge was the deviation of environments between development, test, and production systems. Lastly, infrastructure capital and operating expenses continued to grow.

The customer is a leading credit card company that has formed a new technology-driven business unit to build a modern payment platform and expand its customer reach. This unit is responsible for creating new sources of revenue through banking alternative services and prepaid cards with branded and co-branded offerings. The unit's success is largely driven by its sophisticated infrastructure and fast-paced software development. As the prepaid debit card expanded and added online and mobile features, the division became increasingly reliant on internally developed software applications and on-premise infrastructure. The platform infrastructure to support the mobile and web-centric business spans multiple data centers and technologies.