Westpac is rolling out fibre optic network technology across all of its branches in an initiative to boost download speeds for customers and improve video-conferencing connectivity.
The rollout of the technology - Software Defined Wide Area Networks (SD-WAN) - is the first of its kind by an Australian major bank, and is delivered in collaboration with nbn and Cisco.
As part of the programme, nbn is rolling out a fibre network to all branches, providing Westpac with access to business-grade nbn broadband services through multiple retail telecommunications providers.
Cisco is supporting the physical rollout of SD-WAN, which comes with a simple cloud management architecture, allowing better visibility of the Westpac network and its performance.
Westpac head of secure network services, Wayne Bonett, says: “The rollout of this new technology in branches is an important part of our broader strategy to modernise our underlying infrastructure and consolidate legacy technology systems."
SD-WAN has now been deployed in 300 branches in NSW, ACT, Victoria and Queensland so far, following a successful pilot program earlier this year.
“We have already seen improvements in branches, with 5x faster mobile banking application downloads for customers, reduced transaction times and more reliable free Wi-Fi for customers.
“It has also helped with collaboration activities for our people, with improved video conference quality and faster direct access to cloud hosted services like Microsoft Office 365."
The roll out is ongoing and anticipated to be complete across the whole branch network nationwide by the end of 2020.