

Google persuades large bank to use the cloud - tpatke
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16486796

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mhw
I don't know where people get this idea that large banks still run everything
on technology hardware that they own - it's just not true in general. As an
example, there are organisations like TSYS and First Data out there to which a
number of banks outsource some or all of their transaction processing
operations, from issuing credit and debit cards through card transaction
processing to sending statements out in the post. See
<http://www.tsys.com/solutions_services/Issuers/index.cfm> and
[http://www.firstdata.com/en_us/products/financial-
institutio...](http://www.firstdata.com/en_us/products/financial-
institutions.html) to get an idea of what a bank can outsource if it wants to.
So what's remarkable about outsourcing email/calendar/etc to Google's cloud
when competitors have already outsourced their credit card operation to a
cloud run by TSYS?

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AlexBlom
At least in the banks I deal with, there is a huge difference between what is
considered core, and peripheral services that 1) rarely hold sensitive data,
if any; 2) never hold the master and 3) are not part of the day to day banking
experience (i.e. sending cheque books, delivering credit cards).

The psychological barrier I see is 'running the transaction' vs. 'reporting on
it weeks after the fact'.

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nextparadigms
They might manage to convince them to use some Chromebooks, too. They still
seem to be pretty expensive at around $400, though. I wish they made them
based on ARM already. I wonder if they are just waiting for the arrival of
Cortex A15 before they replace Atom. Samsung should have a dual core 2 ghz
Cortex A15 processor in Q2.

~~~
coob
There's no Chrome for ARM (currently).

The Android browser and Chrome teams are, as far as I understand, completely
separate.

~~~
lgeek
Older versions of Chromium work just fine on ARM. For example the ARM port of
Ubuntu provides Chromium 10 packages. I remember reading that newer versions
don't build, but I don't know why.

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AlexBlom
I have to give Google props on this one. I've spent a lot of time selling tech
platforms / programs to the larger banks in North America. Speaking bluntly,
most of the adoption is being driven by a struggle to keep the lights on, vs.
a natural comfort with the cloud.

It would be interesting to share notes, but I'm finding the adoption is fairly
peripheral (non core systems) with a large lock down on the data that is made
available. Part of the problem is tech propensity, (in the U.S.) is partly
regulation based, and part is because those making buying decisions simply do
not use these tools.

It's going to be an interesting path forwards. The culture change for these
organizations is going to take time.

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nodata
Does European law even allow banking data to be outside of Europe?

~~~
omarkj_
According to the article no customer data will be stored at Google's
datacenters.

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pors
Yeah this is only about office software.

~~~
pandaassembly
And since in the article it says "its not about costs", its for sure about
cost ;-)

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Eurofooty
Google will probably be bank rolling a significant % of the transition
project.

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shutton
Apparently its the biggest single deal Google has signed for its cloud
services. Are financial services ready for the cloud now?

~~~
nextparadigms
It's going to be a very slow process, that's for sure. But the financial
crisis is forcing them to cut costs everywhere. Modernizing their
infrastructure just happens to coincide with that.

This is why the economic crisis can actually be a great way to replace old
technology and old companies, with new disruptive ones, because it forces
their customers to switch to the new more productive or inexpensive model. In
the end the industry is better off for it.

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simonw
"The bank told the BBC it would use Google's tools only for internal
communication."

~~~
ge0rg
_BBVA's director of innovation, Carmen Herranz, stressed that all customer
data and other key banking systems would "stay in our own data centres" and be
completely separate from the cloud solution._

I really wonder how they are going to make internal communication without
exposing customer information to the cloud provider. For me the combination of
these statemens sounds like FUD.

~~~
jonknee
I think he means they aren't moving their customer databases and what not to
the cloud. But when VP Tom emails VP Susy about the presentation for X, they
will be using Google Apps.

