BNP Paribas is set to expand its utilization of IBM Cloud, with plans to allocate a new section of its data centers to the platform by 2028. This move builds upon a partnership that commenced in 2019, where the bank started hosting IBM Cloud infrastructure at its facilities to support broader digital transformation initiatives.
The forthcoming investment aims to enhance system redundancy, bolster resilience in services like payment systems, elevate data security, and ensure compliance with regulations. This strategic move aligns with the European Union’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), which mandates stringent IT risk management and business continuity standards for financial institutions. By fortifying its internal cloud infrastructure and managing cloud service provider risks effectively, BNP Paribas aims to meet these standards efficiently.
BNP Paribas leverages multiple data centers, including eco-friendly facilities in Sweden and Iceland operated by atNorth. These locations cater to data-intensive workloads and high-performance computing. The bank also operates at least one data center in India, as indicated in a previous job listing.
Extending its collaboration with IBM provides BNP Paribas access to GPUs via IBM Cloud, utilized for testing and scaling generative AI projects. These resources are intended to enable business units to experiment with new use cases and expedite the adoption of emerging technologies like AI.
Furthermore, the bank is transitioning towards cloud-native development utilizing Red Hat OpenShift, IBM’s Kubernetes-based container platform. By modernizing applications through microservices, BNP Paribas aims to enhance its agility and support services that can scale across various banking operations, including payment systems.
Marc Camus, the chief information officer at BNP Paribas, emphasized the bank’s focus on evolving its infrastructure while prioritizing security and regulatory compliance. He stated, “By combining GPUs as a service, a dedicated, state-of-the-art environment in our data centers, and a cloud-native infrastructure, we are strengthening our technological foundation.”
BNP Paribas also revealed plans to deploy Oracle’s Exadata Cloud@Customer for on-premises databases by the end of 2024. This move aims to enhance automation accessibility and reduce latency in processing sensitive data.
(Photo by Unsplash)
Related: IBM seeks Nvidia GPUs, with AWS potentially offering a solution
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