Credit Suisse

Contact:
CREDIT SUISSE
Direct Banking
CDCL 3, Postfach 250
8070 Zürich
SWITZERLAND
http://www.credit-suisse.com

Tools Used:
IONA's Orbix™ for MVS™, CORBA®, IBM OS/390

Description:
Illustrative of the move towards CORBA solutions within the financial services industry, Credit Suisse, a leading bank in Switzerland, will make use of IONA Technologies' Orbix product family to integrate the bank's various computer systems. Central to Credit Suisse's decision to use IONA Technologies' products was their ability to integrate new technologies with existing computer systems. In addition, the availability of IONA's Orbix products on diverse platforms such as Orbix for MVS, enables Credit Suisse to integrate critical banking data housed on mainframes. It also allows for applications to be deployed on a range of diverse platforms distributed throughout the enterprise.

Years of adapting computer systems to changing customer needs at Credit Suisse, led to an IT infrastructure characterized by various diverse platforms, operating systems and development environments. Challenges relating to system scalability and manageability are further complicated by the large amount of banking data stored on mainframe computers. To reduce the complexity of interoperability between the numerous applications and to take advantage of new and improved communications approaches and data distribution methods, Credit Suisse recognized the importance of incorporating a CORBA standard interface to the entire computer framework. Orbix for MVS, in tandem with a range of other leading Orbix products provide Credit Suisse with a tightly integrated enterprise solution.

"Because programmers and architects should not be limited to certain tools, the issue surrounding heterogeneity needs to be solved by an architecture standardizing interoperability," commented Oscar Gemsch, head of interplatform services at Credit Suisse. "Our successful CORBA pilot projects using Orbix demonstrated the flexibility of the architecture and inspired confidence in our developers to continue with the CORBA implementation. The Orbix product line offers the only end-to-end solution for a CORBA infrastructure in our environment, in particular providing a comprehensive integration of the OS/390 (MVS) platform. Finally, along with the extensive product offerings available, IONA has also shown the flexibility to react to our specific needs, for example developing an IDL to PL/1 binding."

"Banking institutions, more than most, are prime examples of how large organizations are increasingly concentrating on working from a secure, integrated IT framework to achieve a competitive advantage," commented Colin Newman, executive vice president of marketing at IONA Technologies. "IONA consistently plays an important role in assisting companies to achieve this goal, offering the broadest range of products in Orbix, coupled with excellent backup support. Credit Suisse's planned deployment of Orbix, and Orbix for MVS in particular, will allow organizations with similar amounts of data spread across a complex network of diverse applications and platforms to move with confidence towards adopting a standards-based solution to systems integration."

Credit Suisse, a business unit of the Credit Suisse Group, has an extensive branch network of around 240 branches in Switzerland and is a leading bank for Swiss corporations and individual customers. Credit Suisse Group is one of the leading global financial services companies, providing a comprehensive range of banking and insurance products. It is active on every continent and in all major financial centers.