R&M predicts banks on way to becoming 'a 10 Gigabit society'

R&M Corporate Blog --R&M, the globally active developer and provider of cabling systems for high-quality network infrastructures, based in Wetzikon, Switzerland, is forecasting an investment boom in the financial sector. Banks, insurance companies and other financial services will have to renew their IT systems in the next few years to be equipped for the age of digitalization. R&M has proactively developed solutions for the specific requirements of the financial sector. These include high-security cabling systems for offices, buildings and data centers as well as expert technical support. The service ranges from planning and logistics through assembly and customizing to testing and certifying networks.

Many banks and insurance companies in Asia and the Middle East are already equipped with state-of-the-art network solutions. In India, the market of LAN cabling recently witnessed double-digit growth, particularly because financial institutes are upgrading their networks. An investment boom is looming large on the horizon in Europe. Worldwide, IT investments in the financial sector grew more than 5% in 2017. These are the results of analyses carried out by IDC. Market researchers Gartner are forecasting a worldwide investment volume of $ 519 billion for 2018 - an increase of 4.1%.

Banks On The Way To Becoming A 10 Gigabit Society I1140

Financial services are currently focusing on modernizing IT. This is being reported by companies such as Gartner and the consulting group PwC. Andreas Rüsseler, CMO at R&M, has a few words of warning on this subject: "New software and IT hardware alone are not going to be enough. The networks in offices and data centers are often decades old. Due to the competition, changes to the market and the explosion of global data traffic, financial services have to think about higher categories of data transmission and fundamentally new LAN infrastructures." R&M feels that the long-term requirements for bandwidth, headroom and scalability are not being paid enough attention when it comes to investment planning. Andreas Rüsseler: "Banks which today invest in secure and future-proof cabling and network technology will save later on expensive retrofitting. Agility and scalability of the networks are essential to be able to offer innovative services at all times and to tap new markets."

He points out today's main criteria which play a decisive role when it comes to network planning:

Stricter security, risk and compliance requirements.
Innovative applications such as big data, virtualization, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, mobile banking, decentral transaction concepts such as blockchain.
Competition from the FinTechs and Internet groups.
The high expectations of customers looking for reliable, secure real time services available everywhere.

"There is no way a bank can satisfy future requirements with conventional, static office networks," says R&M. To date, the LAN was often designed to cope with no more than 1 Gigabit Ethernet. Today, transmission performance of 10 Gigabit Ethernet, ten times as large, is required. In the Data Center segment, even greater performance levels have to be ensured. Andreas Rüsseler explains: "High-performance communication is becoming a critical corporate factor for banks, too. Mobile and fixed workplaces, teams working over a number of locations, virtual applications and multimedia visualizations have to be able to be connected fast."

In view of the long-term CAPEX planning of the banks and insurance companies, R&M CMO Andreas Rüsseler advises: "The LAN should be planned with the greatest possible headroom. Cabling systems have to support new applications and equipment for around 20 years. In particular, they should be designed on a modular basis so that they can be extended or upgraded at any time on the plug & play principle. It may seem a little far-fetched today to have a LAN with 10 GbE transmission performance. But soon this full performance could well be needed.“

R&M advises financial institutes on the requirements and criteria for network planning. Alongside headroom for higher bandwidth and data transmission with no delays, security is the banks' greatest concern. "Maximum security can already be integrated at the level of the connectors for example," explains Andreas Rüsseler. Among other things, R&M supplies tamper-proof shielding. A three-level security system protects connections from incorrect operation and manipulation. The infrastructure management system R&MinteliPhy monitors networks in real time both on site and remotely at distant locations and automates the necessary network documentation.

R&M supports the financial sector with specific solutions for structured cabling in office buildings and data centers. Here, the company makes available brochures and up-to-date information on network solutions for financial service providers. The cabling specialist can draw on its comprehensive international experience in the financial sector. R&M has been supplying renowned Swiss banks for decades. They make particularly high demands of IT infrastructures due to their leading role in the market. Most recently R&M has shown its specific expertise in major projects in Zurich, London, Cairo, Amman, Abu Dhabi, Mumbai and Shaoxing. R&M provided international teams and local support for installation tasks, training sessions, quality assurance and project management.

Source: IDC, Gartner, PwC