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| According to Dr. Ahmed Tantawy,
the Linux movement in the local market is gathering momentum.
This should be boosted when IBM completes Arabisation work
during 2002. | The extensive use of Linux has
also helped the bank reduce its hardware expenditure. Until last
year, the bank was still using 286 machines in some places to run a
character-based module of the bank’s core banking application. “The
application we designed was suitable for running host machines. We
found that we had to buy fat machines, just because Windows needs
fat machines,” says Pillai.
However, the same ‘fat’ Intel
machines are now running Linux. The additional memory of the Intel
boxes accelerates the performance of the Java applications running
on the open OS. “We are finding ways to utilise those resources. We
have found that Java under Linux runs better than Java under
Windows,” he adds.
Habib Bank owes its platform independence
to the extensive Java development that has been ongoing since the
mid-90s. The bank’s entire IT infrastructure is based on a n-tier
architecture, with every single application — even down to the app
that prints cheque books — internally developed using Java.
The bank’s core banking application consists of 18 software
modules handling different core elements of the business. The suite
of self-contained applications — internally described as ‘the
banking enterprise’ — handles “everything from the tellers to the
Internet banking application,” says Pillai. “If it’s not in the
banking enterprise it means we don’t do that service just
yet.”
The internal programming work also stretches to the
development tools, which the 15-strong IT team built from early Java
Development Kits (JDKs). Prior to the introduction of Java in 1996,
the bank had been developing its banking applications using a
mixture of C++ and a more robust proprietary language called hPLUS.
The migration from hPLUS to Java was “relatively easy,” as there was
strong similarities between the programming languages. However, the
bank felt the need to develop its own Java tools that were optimised
for the existing architecture. “We wanted to mimic the architecture
in Java, so we started writing our own tools,” explains Pillai. “We
brought one virtual machine that interpreted our hPLUS byte-code
into Java so that we didn’t have to re-write everything from
scratch.”
Since the initial conversion to Java, the bank’s IT
team has constructed its internal Java component framework, which
enables it to pull together already existing elements of code to
rapidly deliver an application. The development cycle has been cut
“tremendously,” says Pillai. “We saw the freedom of Java, we saw a
language that was going to be supported by the industry. We saw the
capability that Java gave us to accelerate development time and help
simplify the architecture,” he adds.
The strict adherence to
Java development has resulted in a strong sense of platform and
vendor independence. Although different from most other
organisations in the region, Pillai believes the internal
development mantra has resulted in a more reliable and closely
integrated IT architecture. “We have avoided any dependence on
standalone applications,” says Pillai.
“Many banks have
multi-vendor dependencies… when they want to make changes to their
environments they have to be careful not to disrupt other systems.
That is one of the major differences here — by having everything
developed in Java we are not dependent on any vendor sessions
[code]… any machine can run the [core banking applications,]” he
adds.
Pillai shrugs off suggestions that internal development
is both a time-consuming and expensive road map to follow,
particularly with the Internet pressuring businesses in all areas to
deliver solutions rapidly. In October 2000, Habib Bank AG Zurich
development team delivered SMS banking, secure WAP services and
Internet banking to its customers. More recently, HBZ became the
first bank to offer an online letter of credit.
The timely
delivery of such services proves firstly that the internal
development track does work and secondly, that the HBZ’s
architecture is both flexible and scaleable. “The IT architecture
has to be decided on… in our environment if the architecture doesn’t
support something then we don’t introduce the service,” says Pillai.
“We can’t just deploy an application outside the
architecture… [Our] approach might take a little longer, but we know
that when we actually deliver the solution we will reap the rewards
quickly,” he adds.
Maintenance of the bank’s strong
development programme the skills of its developers is vital.
Considering the local dearth of Linux and Java development skills
one would assume that the corporate bank had invested heavily in
training. However, HBZ has bucked the trend and relies on
information available on the Internet and the ingrained computing
science knowledge of its development team. According to Pillai, much
of the available local training isn’t up to scratch. “If you have
that basic computing science knowledge, you can learn technologies
without taking expensive courses,” says Pillai. “A typical example
is Java — if you want to learn Java the best place to go is the
Internet and Sun’s site.”
With in-house expertise being
relied on to support the existing environment and prepare for the
introduction of further services there is always going to be
pressure on IT resources. In terms of support, Habib Bank does hold
a support contract with Sybase and it has “a good working
relationship with Sun.” However, as the entire architecture has been
developed in-house, HBZ already believes it has the best support
personnel available.
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