Consolidating core banking from 14 x86 servers down to 2 IBM Power10 clusters
Cut 5-year TCO by 38%, raised core SLA to 99.995% and reduced end-of-day batch time from 4 hours to 78 minutes.
Challenge → Solution → Outcome
Step-by-step view of how we moved from the brief to the outcome.
After 6 years on fragmented x86 infrastructure, the bank's EOD batch ran for 4 hours and routinely encroached on the early-morning service window. Oracle license cost was spiralling with x86 core count. A hardware incident in late 2024 caused a 47-minute Internet Banking outage — pushing the infrastructure problem to the top of the priority list.
Problem. Solution. Result.
After 6 years on fragmented x86 infrastructure, the bank's EOD batch ran for 4 hours and routinely encroached on the early-morning service window. Oracle license cost was spiralling with x86 core count. A hardware incident in late 2024 caused a 47-minute Internet Banking outage — pushing the infrastructure problem to the top of the priority list.
- 01Audited all workloads and classified by tier (core OLTP, reporting, dev/test).
- 02Designed an active-active two-cluster Power10 architecture with cross-DC Live Partition Mobility.
- 03Migrated core database to Power; kept analytics and dev/test on existing x86.
- Total 5-year cost dropped ~$2.1M, primarily from Oracle license savings.
- EOD batch completes before 03:00, opening branches 2 hours earlier.
- Core service SLA at 99.995% — exceeding the 99.99% commitment.
Solution
- 01Audited all workloads and classified by tier (core OLTP, reporting, dev/test).
- 02Designed an active-active two-cluster Power10 architecture with cross-DC Live Partition Mobility.
- 03Migrated core database to Power; kept analytics and dev/test on existing x86.
- 04Optimised Oracle licensing: from 224 vCPU x86 (112 licensed cores) down to 48 Power cores.
- 05Established a DR site synchronised via HADR with RPO < 5 minutes.
Outcome
- Total 5-year cost dropped ~$2.1M, primarily from Oracle license savings.
- EOD batch completes before 03:00, opening branches 2 hours earlier.
- Core service SLA at 99.995% — exceeding the 99.99% commitment.
- No S1/S2 incidents in the first 12 months after go-live.
Measurable shift
Inside the engagement
DigiWorkHub didn't just sell us hardware — they sat with our DBAs for three weeks tuning workloads. The day we cut over, EOD finished before our ops manager finished his second coffee.
