Arab National Bank (ANB) has become the latest regional customer for HP Superdome Servers and Mission Critical Support services. This IT initiative between ANB and HP solidifies a 10-year technology partnership where ANB’s management has seen the clear value of advanced technology and the benefits it has provided the bank, their customers and their employees.
ANB is the first bank in Saudi Arabia to implement a duel HP Superdome installation, allowing the bank to reduce their number of servers and at the same time increase their compute power and capacity, all at a significantly lower cost. The migration process will be rolled-out in two phases over the next year and will initially incorporate the combination of 20 Unix servers into the two HP Superdomes. The initial implementation will take place over the next 6 months, after which HP will undertake a significant and comprehensive BETA test period followed by all-inclusive training for all ANB IT employees to ensure the team understands the complexities and versatility of HP Superdome servers.
“Having worked very closely with the ANB for the last 10 years and through our channel partner Ibtikar, we have a fundamental understanding of their technology needs and are able to respond quickly to these requirements,” said Joseph Hanania, regional GM, HP ME.
“ANB cited their need for a combination of power, capacity and the ability to scale up to 64-bit processors which is why we knew that our Superdome servers were the perfect answer for their IT consolidation.”
In the second phase of the project, HP will provide mission critical services, that include full 24/7 technical support with a 4-hours call to restore commitment for the two Superdome servers and the 20 UNIX servers. The HP technical team of 7 will be based in Riyadh as a dedicated Superdome support team for this special mission. HPS Saudi Arabia represented by the Customer Support organization will furnish a complete suit of Mission Critical Support Services to ANB, including the resident team. This service level agreement with ANB will allow improved performance as the bank will be able to focus on their core competency and customer care in the secure knowledge that the HP team will be watching the IT infrastructure.
“Our goal in consolidating our IT infrastructures is to increase performance by as much as 30%, thereby increasing our competitive edge. With this initiative we will optimized our assets for today and tomorrow and we are confident that HP’s technology will continue to provide secured operations with reduced complexity and enhanced manageability,” said Ahmad Ashgan, GM, Operations Group, Arab National Bank.
Abdullah Al-Mohaisen, GM, HP Saudi Arabia, will be working closely with both ANB and Ibtikar throughout the implementation.
“We have known that business critical computing customers such as ANB are always looking for business agility and an infrastructure that will make their business more efficient and keep them running and ahead of the competition,” he commented. “This initiative will provide ANB with the ability to reduce operational costs and to be better prepared for the future as they continue to grow.”
