PKO Bank Polski is currently undergoing a rapid programme of business reengineering through the implementation of its modernisation strategy. The execution of the strategy aims to create a firm base for the bank to expand, taking advantage of the increased levels of competition and industry consolidation in what is a highly dynamic market.

Key to this is the implementation of a new Integrated Information Technology System known internally as ZSI – and the development of the PKO Bank technology platform. The business driver behind this is the bank's desire to develop innovative solutions aimed at servicing and acquiring clients from all market sectors and meet their individual needs. Further, the company is determined to maintain its existing market position as a modern, dynamic universal bank in Poland, whilst actively expanding into other Eastern European markets. Key to this is its necessity to increase its operational efficiency.

"McDATA and EMC impressed us with the i10K's partitioning and security features, along with their rich experience in FICON," said Andrzej Krzesniak, director of computing centre at PKO BP. "While we initially considered Brocade's Silkworm 48000, after evaluating the McDATA solutions available through EMC, we decided to purchase the i10K and chose to replace our Brocade switches with an additional order for 10 FICON-enabled Sphereon 4700 Fabric Switches."

The new storage environment will improve the Bank's operational efficiency as its drives forward with new market innovations such as developing internet banking and new channels of distribution based on mobile technologies.

McDATA directors and fabric switches were selected to replace legacy Brocade equipment in order to support the bank's FICON/OS intermix environment. Four i10K directors have been installed, and following a review of the bank's Brocade fabric switches, the decision was made to migrate to McDATA's Sphereon 4700's instead given their superior scalability and flexibility.

Andrzej Krzesniak explained: "Finance environments demand high availability, reliability and transfer speeds. The flexible and scalable i10K is the ideal choice to support this data intensive and highly regulated sector."

"With i10Ks at the core of PKO BP's storage infrastructure and Sphereon 4700s at the edge, McDATA can provide the capacity, high availability and resilience the bank needs as it continues it's growth in a developing and exciting marketplace."

PKO BP is Poland's leading commercial bank, offering retail and commercial financial services, and has the largest number of branches and ATMs across the region. It is also one of Poland's largest employers. With action being taken by the European Commission to open up cross–geographical banking, the market opportunities for financial services providers such as PKO BP are significant. PKO BP is investing in its infrastructure to support business growth.