Skandinavisk Data Center Greatly Reduces Costs by Migrating Core Banking Systems to Microsoft Platform

REDMOND, Wash., Sept. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Microsoft Corp. today announced that Skandinavisk Data Center (SDC) is expected to save $20 million annually by moving its core banking system from its mainframe platform to Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008. SDC was formed in 1963 and is owned by 150 financial institutions in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and the Faroe Islands, and is responsible for providing core banking services to these banks across Scandinavia.

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With its roots in the financial sector, SDC supplies IT services to support its clients' business operations and increase their competitive edge with comprehensive solutions that create added value across national boundaries. With cost reduction at the forefront of SDC's business imperatives, a solution was required to help minimize spending, while retaining and gaining new member banks. By migrating its mainframe solution to a Windows platform, it is estimated that SDC will reduce operational costs for its core banking system by 30 percent, giving it a competitive edge and eliminating additional internal expense.

The project, which started in May 2009, is taking place in three stages. The first phase was completed in May 2010 and migrated 71 of the heaviest transactional applications from mainframe code to .NET, bringing them to the Windows platform. The remaining transactional applications will be migrated for the banks and some of the online banks in the second phase, and is expected to be complete by spring 2011. From spring 2011 to 2012 the rest of the online banks will be migrated and the DB2 database will be moved to Microsoft SQL Server, completing the third phase and the project's three-year journey.

"Our primary concern is cost reduction without loss of quality. Growing competition combined with the financial crisis increases focus on production costs all over the Western world. This goes for the banks affiliated with SDC as well — IT being their second largest expenditure," said Erik Jakobsen, CEO, SDC. "On the other hand it is essential that cost can be cut without endangering the reliability and efficiency of our core system. The system is, as the name says, the core of daily business for our customers. Our experience shows that substantial cost reduction without loss of quality is possible on a larger-scale, lower-cost Windows platform with the support we have had from Microsoft. Already we are running 1.1 million transactions per day on the new platform."

"We share SDC's dedication to simplifying operations with a leading-edge, efficient and cost-effective platform," said Karen Cone, general manager, Worldwide Financial Services at Microsoft. "Previously, SDC ran its core banking system on a mainframe. By migrating the code to .NET and Windows Server, SDC is modernizing its infrastructure in a manner that mitigates risk."

SDC's transition off the mainframe to a more flexible, scalable and highly available Microsoft platform with improved capabilities will enable SDC to respond more quickly and effectively to its small and medium-sized banking customers' demands. Microsoft Services, Microsoft's consulting and enterprise support division, has also assisted SDC with life-cycle service and support solutions to address SDC's mission-critical need for high availability and supportability of the core system deployed on the Microsoft platform.

About Microsoft in Financial Services

Microsoft's Financial Services Group provides software that helps financial firms transform the customer, employee and operations experience so they can maximize opportunities for increased market share and profitability. Microsoft software helps empower people and IT staff within financial firms — and across key focus areas such as advisor platforms, channel renewal, insurance value chain, enterprise risk management and compliance, and payments. Through a combination of Microsoft- and partner-provided solutions, customers enable their employees to turn data into insight, transform ideas into action and turn change into opportunity. More information about Microsoft's Financial Services Group can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/financialservices.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

SOURCE Microsoft Corp.