Highlights:
- Aimed at improving customer and employee experience
- Delivered in collaboration with nbn and Cisco
- Significant reduction in IT costs
In a first of its kind by an Australian major bank, Westpac group announced rolling out software-defined Wide Area Networks in all its branches across Australia. The infrastructure transformation program delivered in collaboration with Cisco and nbn is designed to deliver efficiencies and improve employee and customer experience.
Australia’s oldest bank stated, the new technology enables faster internet and improved technology capabilities in branches with high levels of security while reducing IT costs.
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SD network deployed in Data Centres paves way for SD-Wan roll out in branches
As part of the program, nbn is rolling out a fibre network to all branches, providing Westpac with flexible access to business-grade nbn broadband services through multiple retail telecommunications providers, Westpac noted in a media release.
Cisco is supporting the physical rollout of SD-WAN by providing a scalable and secure platform, together with a simple cloud management architecture.
Following a successful pilot earlier this year, SD-WAN has now been deployed in 300 branches in NSW, ACT, Victoria and Queensland so far.
Head of Secure Network Services, Wayne Bonett, said: “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.
“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.
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Pre-COVID Initiative
Westpac had launched an initiative to transform its infrastructure 18 months ago when software-defined network technology was deployed in data centres. This paved the way for a shift towards greater cloud connectivity for all employees, increased efficiencies in network infrastructure across the bank, and enabled the SD-WAN technology rollout in branches.
The rollout is expected to be complete across the whole branch network nationwide by the end of 2020.
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