DBS Bank has announced it will become Singapore’s first bank to convert its traditional data centre into a cloud-optimised hub.
 

DBS will partner with data centre and colocation service provider Equinix to build the new cloud-optimised data centre.

The new cloud-backed initiative will allow the company to downsize its main data centre by three quarters and reduce operating costs by up to 75 per cent, the bank said.

Spurred by the rapid increase in compute workloads, which have doubled in the last three years, the upgrade to cloud promises to deliver significant improvements to the bank’s digital agility and scalability, and improve the data centre’s energy efficiency by up to 10 times, DBS said.

Recent efforts to migrate to cloud-optimised technologies have resulted in a seven-fold increase in storage and computing capacity since 2014, whilst also delivering substantial efficiency savings, the bank said.

As part of DBS’ corporate and energy efficiency targets, as well as driving better outcomes for customers, the bank has committed to transferring at least half of its compute workload to the public cloud by 2018.

“[DBS’] aggressive drive towards cloud technology for its applications underlines its commitment to digitally transform the bank from client-facing functions all the way to backend processes. This will enable the bank to better serve its customers who increasingly prefer to transact digitally,” the bank said in a release.

David Gledhill, DBS’ Group Chief Information Officer and Head of Technology and Operations, said the adoption of cloud technologies will allow the bank to experiment and scale quickly, and drastically increase energy efficiency.

“Our teams are able to iterate and deliver products to our customers at a much faster rate, while adhering to the highest standards of security and resiliency. With the new cloud data centre, we are able to significantly increase our energy efficiency as well as drastically reduce our carbon footprint.”

Enforcing DBS’ commitment to the RE100, a global renewable energy campaign, the bank has set a target to power 100 per cent of its Singapore operations using renewable energy by 2030.