Swift introduces cloud-based connectivity

Financial messaging network Swift is preparing to upgrade its Alliance Lite system, bringing the option of cloud-based connectivity to most customers.

Swift launched Alliance Lite in 2008 as a cheap option for customers with low volume traffic requirements and has signed up more than 500 users worldwide.

The system's interface uses a standard Internet connection with a Swift-issued hardware security token, which can be provided on a USB memory stick. Once activated, corporate users send payment instructions via Swift to their financial institutions in whatever format they want.

Alliance Lite2 will make Swift-hosted connectivity possible for far more customers by supporting much higher message volumes, all formats (MT and MX), and more automation options.

The cloud-based connectivity eliminates the need for customers to maintain Swift equipment onsite, with a USB token the only hardware required. Alliance Lite2 will also be offered to existing customers as a fall-back option.

Pilot testing is scheduled to begin in April, with the go-live date set for July.

Related Companies

Swift

Channels

Cloud Sibos Payments Wholesale banking

Keywords

Financial messaging

Comments: (1)

Ketharaman Swaminathan - GTM360 Marketing Solutions - Pune 02 March, 2012, 15:13

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When Alliance Lite was launched in 2008, I distinctly remember reading that no hardware was required at customer premise except USB token. At the time, I used to work for a company that was - and still is - involved in selling conventional SWIFT-connectivity solutions that demanded lot more hardware and software than Alliance Lite, so I'd followed the 2008 announcement keenly. The second paragraph of this article describing the 2008 version also mentions no other hardware than USB token. I wonder if this new version is simply an attempt by SWIFT to jump into the "cloud" bandwagon. If yes, that'd be a pity: The very first time I'd heard about SWIFT some 25 years ago, it sounded as cloud-based as anything else does today, just that access to the cloud happened via dedicated leased lines rather than Internet.