Australia and New Zealand Banking Group is to replace its proprietary ATM and point-of-sale terminal infrastructure with a Windows-based platform supplied by Dallas-based S2 Systems.
The bank says high support and maintenance costs in the existing proprietary system, coupled with a need to enhance development lead times, compelled it to seek a replacement solution.
David Boyles, ANZ's CIO says the large-scale deployment of S2's SQL server-based OpeN/2 application for Windows 2000 will enable the bank to handle higher volumes of transactions with greater speed and reliability.
"The performance capabilities of OpeN/2 running in Windows 2000 on SQL represent a new benchmark for the banking and financial services industry," he says. "With this open architecture project, expected outcomes include lower costs, improved customer service, quicker time-to-market, and positioning ANZ to integrate with an expanded array of consumer-direct technologies."
The move also paves the way for integration with wireless and other evolving technologies he adds.
S2's payment switching solution offers integration with disparate systems and customer interfaces via ATMs, eftpos terminals, card readers, Web browsers, mobile phones, PDAs, and other devices.
The move is part of a major revamp of ANZ's retail payments operations and comes hard on the heels of the launch of a multi-year programme to convert its credit card processing and merchant terminals to chip-based technology.