BankMuscat chooses HP and Avaya to integrate and unify its business systems

BankMuscat is the largest bank in the country with over 40% market share and 121 branches. The implementation coincides with the bank's decision to move to its new headquarters and includes HP's portfolio of energy-efficient data centers, blade servers, Superdome and HP ProCurve networking solutions as well as Avaya's IP telephony for 1600 user endpoints and a complete unified communications suite.

In order to meet its business objectives and deliver efficient customer services across the bank's branches in Oman, BankMuscat wanted to reduce the complexity of its legacy systems and move its diverse banking functionality to a flexible and scalable infrastructure.

Furthermore, real-time system availability, total cost of ownership, simplified and streamlined resource sharing based on an open architecture and industry standards were areas that the bank needed support on.

"We wanted an integrated technology solution that could support our growing business in the region. We are confident of the support and system overhaul that HP and Avaya are carrying out. Our goal is to lower our costs, automate paper-based systems, enhance security across the enterprise, increase employee productivity and collaboration and reduce communications costs through this implementation," said John A. Cooper, Chief Information Officer, DGM Technology and Operations, BankMuscat.

Nidal Abou-ltaif, Vice President, Middle East, Africa, Greece and Turkey, Avaya, said:

"BankMuscat is among the leading banks in the region that rely on Avaya for communications efficiency and expertise. Avaya together with our partner HP Pro Curve were able to offer BankMuscat an open standard architecture that allows for integration with the bank's existing infrastructure."

"Regionally, we have worked with leading banks and financial institutions to help them optimise their business outcomes, increasing efficiency and mitigating risks. Our expertise in this domain has helped financial institutions effectively move from their legacy system and adapt to a highly scalable and flexible computing system. We have been working closely with the BankMuscat team and we hope our technology will contribute positively to the bank's long-term business objectives," said John Hoonhout, Managing Director HP Middle East.

Five HP ProCurve 5400 chassis based switches were integrated into the bank's existing vendor environment after changing it to standard, open protocol.

The bank will implement Avaya's one-X portfolio of UC solutions, including: one-X Portal, one-X Communicator, and one-X Mobile. Avaya one-X is a family of communications applications and collaboration tools designed for end users. It supports Unified Communications across a wide range of platforms, including desktop and laptop computers, mobile devices, and dedicated IP deskphones. Using industry standards such as SIP or H.323, one-X Products offer simple, intuitive access to everyday communication and collaboration tools.

"The implementation will be carried out with the support of IMTAC, Avaya and HP's partner in Oman, and is projected to be fully rolled-out within the next few months," added Divesh Loomba, Country Manager for HP TSG Oman.