Savvis IT Infrastructure

Use Case: Cloud solutions

Cloud Solutions for the Financial Services Industry

Cloud Solutions for the Financial Services Industry

CIOs and IT management in the financial services industry realize that cloud-based computing infrastructure enhances the value of their business offerings, by divesting themselves of the problems of managing what has become commoditized infrastructure and ensuring ever-stretched resources can be deployed onto strategic and value-adding initiatives. These organizations want to run mission-critical applications in the cloud at enterprise-class levels of availability, security and connectivity while retaining a flexible architecture with capacity for expansion. Cloud economics are attractive and increasingly relevant to financial services organizations. Due to the significant amount of money and resources allocated to IT, these firms want a model that allows their assets to be used optimally, often by multiple consumers, whenever possible. While the use of cloud computing continues to increase within the financial services industry, Savvis has found that many organizations are hesitant to jump into mass market cloud offerings. Concerns often focusing on the privacy and security of data and performance of cloud-based applications have only recently been addressed with the arrival of enterprise-class cloud options such as the Savvis Symphony (www.savvisknowscloud.com) line of cloud services. Savvis knows how to assist. Our flexible solutions provide clients with competitive advantages across the board, and our efforts in cloud computing are no different. And now wed like to share with you some specific cloud use cases that our financial services enterprise clients are implementing. We hope you find these examples valuable in your planning and future decisions about cloud.

Cloud Use Cases

Compute Power
Financial services firms often require ad-hoc access to significant computing resources, whether for applications such as risk management, mark-to-market or what-if scenario analyses. A large international bank recently needed 8,000 cores in order to calculate and pay back Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds. Because the cores would be unused after the project ended, they decided against using physical infrastructure. Cloud computing for six months significantly reduced costs for the bank. Another firm recently deployed approximately 50,000 servers dedicated for intermittent use in credit risk management calculations. Not only will this infrastructure often sit idle, over time it will require maintenance and, ultimately, a technology refresh to remain up to date. Time and resources dedicated to running a physical data center undermine the value-added applications that run on these machines. Employing a dedicated cloud environment could have readily addressed these issues.

Virtual Desktops
Due to offshore growth in developing countries, a large international bank needed to regularly get new employees up and running on desktop computers. Because of security and other issues, it typically took this bank about four to six weeks to get an internally configured desktop procured and deployed. And during that time, the employee couldnt work on a computer. Now, using Savvis Symphony Virtual Private Data Center, virtual desktops can be configured and operational in about an hour. In addition, end users now remark positively on the more service-oriented approach they encounter when engaging with their IT teams.

Disaster Recovery
An international financial services company recently found a way to save money using cloud computing to assist with its disaster recovery preparations. Previously, this client paid for active storage at two data center locations. So it was paying for and using space for a duplicate location that would be unused unless there was an emergency. Now, instead of this active-active site setup, the client uses cloud for an active-standby setup; important backup data is stored in a virtual private data center at a separate Savvis location. Should a disaster occur, the backup files go live and mission-critical applications can be accessed. A cloud-based business continuity/disaster recovery solution can be tailored according to the size and sophistication of the individual firm.

Development and Testing

A global financial services firm wanted to assess a third partys analytic modeling software. This firm needed a lab for 90 days to test the software, but its internal IT team said it would take six to nine months to procure, configure and release the necessary IT infrastructure. Because only non-public information was being modeled, cloud computing became an option. Instead of waiting for more than half a year, this business unit called Savvis and the lab was running the next day.

Capex to Opex
An IT contact from a financial services firm found he needed increased flexibility for his business unit. Whenever he wanted to buy anything, regardless of cost, he had to go through an extensive procurement process. He would attend monthly expenditure meetings to present his case for making the purchase. However, if he needed a service, he didnt have go through the process and could move forward under his own operating expense approval limits. Now, he not only has quick, self-service access to cloud, he has moved much of his budget to an opex model. He can rapidly spin up environments, develop, test and deploy other applications for financial customers all with low commitment and no capital expenditure.

shared Resources
Due to the nature of computing, a large international bank that was paying for a massive amount of physical IT infrastructure found much of its IT space was unutilized at any given time. Now, the bank uses cloud computing to pool resources and share infrastructure and CPU globally. Internal groups only pay for what they use, with flexibility and elasticity now built into their usage patterns.

separation of Duties
To address potential security issues and comply with separation of duties guidelines, one large investment bank now utilizes a segregated cloud-based development environment for third-party contractors to deploy and test software and applications developed by the firms internal development staff.

seasonal/Peak Bursting
One financial firm decided to spend more of its time, energy and resources developing products and client relationships instead of focusing on its corporate website. Because its website experiences extreme fluctuations in demand driven by factors such as holidays, marketing campaigns and financial earnings releases it needed an IT structure that would support bursts of transactions at key times. A cloud solution from Savvis did the trick. Instead of going down during peak traffic, the website now bursts into a cloud to remain operational.

Hybrid Cloud solutions

A trading firm that was using a mass market cloud service provider found it needed to tie its cloud back into its physical infrastructure. The service provider couldnt handle the request, so the firm went to Savvis for the solution. Through Savvis converged cloud network, the firm has private access to the cloud. With a physical presence in a Savvis data center, the firm can easily flip connected clouds on and off. As an added benefit, this firm also now has access to Savvis financial market ecosystem, in which financial firms are housed in close proximity.

economies of scale/Cost Transparency

Software vendors which sometimes are financial service firms themselves are faced with the challenge of a diminishing customer base, due to market attrition and continual automation of trading systems and functions. As a result, the traditional end-user licensing model is difficult to sustain. One firm reduced infrastructure cost and increased economies of scale by migrating to a Software as a Service (SaaS) delivery model that utilizes cloud services. SaaS-based applications and services also allow this firm to allocate costs internally according to usage, thus increasing cost transparency within the organization.

Private Cloud or Public Cloud?

A private cloud commonly refers to an enterprises internal cloud within a corporate data center. It can also denote a dedicated cloud infrastructure residing in a service providers data center. A public cloud provides secure virtualized hosting via a scalable, multi-tenant infrastructure, allowing users to deploy and turn off compute resources quickly and easily.

Benefits of Cloud Computing

Shorten Deployment Times It can take several months to get started if you use your existing infrastructure to develop, test and deploy new applications, as infrastructure needs to be procured, installed and configured. With a cloud platform, you often can be up and running the same day. Burst Meet seasonal or even unplanned spikes in demand for computing, network and storage resources. Your website will not shut down, and you dont need to overpay for space you wont be using during non-peak periods. Lower Capex Deliver new applications without the need for deploying capital to purchase equipment. Development and delivery can be managed as operating expenses. Pay-As-You-Go Cost Structure Pay for the resources you use, by the instance and by the hour. Technology Agnostic To avoid being locked into a particular vendor, venue, product, etc., look for a technology-agnostic cloud vendor that leverages a choice of best-of-breed products and services.

Industry Groups
The emergence of industry groups and standards reflect the growing acceptance of enterprise-class cloud computing among the financial services industry. For more information, visit the following organizations websites:  istributedManagementTaskForce(www.dmtf.org) D  nterpriseCloudLeadershipCouncil(http://www.tmforum.org/ E EnablingCloudServices/EnterpriseCloudLeadership/8009/Home.html)

For more information about Savvis cloud solutions and financial services capabilities, visit www.savvisknowscloud.com or www.savvis.net/financial.
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