Banking co-operative Swift is to provide a jumping board to large public cloud providers Microsoft and Google, and roll out its own private cloud services for institutions connecting to the network.
Swift already has a proof of concept in place with Microsoft, building on work that started last year with the technology company’s treasury operations establishing a prototype Swift connection on Microsoft Azure and the successful testing of payment transactions.
Under a new 'Cloud Connect' initiative, Swift will develop network architecture and automation templates for customers to ease deployment on ‘hyper-scale’ public cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.
Internally, Swift's Alliance cloud will provide an option for corporates and banking members to host their messaging operations, integrating gpi, sanctions screening solutions and other Swift-related services.
Craig Young, chief information officer, at Swift says: “Cloud computing is a key enabler of a faster, frictionless future and a powerful catalyst for innovative new services. Our community is seizing its potential, and we are committed to supporting them with a range of connectivity options reflecting their diverse approaches and breadth of needs.”
Swift plans to begin customer trials on its Cloud Connect initiative later this year, with a community-wide service targeted for the second half of 2020. A phased roll out of Alliance Cloud will meanwhile launch in 2020, starting in the second quarter.