MPS Selects Cisco Solution
January 10, 2005

Comment
Considered the world's oldest bank, Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) was set up by the State of Siena as Monte di Pietà in 1472, and has operated since then without interruption. When measured on loan and deposit volumes, MPS is currently Italy's fourth largest banking group.

Full Story

Italian banking group MPS will use Cisco's Business Ready Data Centre framework to create a network architecture, which will help reduce operational costs, improve flexibility and enhance business agility. MPS will consolidate and interconnect storage resources at its two regional data centres in Italy using Cisco Systems integrated data center networking which will enable MPS to improve usability, availability and continuity of services.

MPS's main data centre locations, situated 90 km from each other, are now interconnected through the ultra-high-bandwidth DWDM technology (Dense Wavelength-Division Multiplexing) based on the Cisco ONS 15540 network platform for optical services. This supports a multi-service solution to efficiently transport voice, video, data as well as storage traffic between locations.

The DWDM infrastructure helps enable information to be replicated in a synchronous way between data centers to help support operational compliance. The high-speed optical network also helps minimize delays when replicating information over 90 km between the two IBM OS/390 mainframe and open systems environments. The solution also supports an overall data centralization project to improve information integrity which reduces the need for manual procedures to verify data security.

"High availability and business continuance, key elements of Cisco's Business Ready Data Centre architecture, help provide a platform for managing operational risk, which is becoming a key priority for many financial institutions," said Stefano Venturi, VP and general manager, Italy, for Cisco Systems. "Being able to create mirrored images of information stored in remote locations helps financial institutions to minimize operational risk, whilst helping build a more flexible IT infrastructure."

Announced by Cisco in April 2004, the Cisco Business Ready Data Centre addresses the need for an intelligent network architecture that supports current data centre initiatives and provides a foundation for the next-generation data centre. The Business Ready Data Centre is based on an adaptive architecture that improves operational efficiencies, enhances business resilience and provides a transparent migration path for future applications.