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WebSphere provides a more stable platform for interacting with call-center applications, while its support of Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) and Web services standards paves the way for the creation of new banking applications that support Java and Eclipse.
Supporting argument
Penna adds that the acquisition and implementation of the zSeries 800 servers took about a year, as Bancodo Brasil introduced the servers as development boxes before gradually bringing them to production. Nonetheless, the biggest obstacle encountered during the process, he says, wasn't a technological transition, it was the need to sell management on Linux. While Linux was already present in Banco do Brasil's environment (it ran many of the bank's Web servers), management had to be convinced that the open-source OS could be supported on a larger scale.
While it could be plainly noted that implementing Linux saved the bank money on OS licensing fees, IBM support personnel also stepped in to help make the case by walking the bank's IT administrators through the process of creating virtual servers and providing performance and storage analysis.
'Our managers weren't confident about Linux,' says Penna. 'But with the support we got from IBM, they could see how easy it was to create the image and how much disk space could be saved.'
By implementing Linux and the zSeries server, Banco do Brasil is no longer making frequent deposits to its IT server farm. But, like its customers, the bank is saving—saving money and saving time. 'That's the great benefit of the zSeries and Linux combination— the time-to-market is reduced compared to other architectures,' says Penna. 'We can develop faster, and we can deploy faster.'
Linux, sponsored by IBM, Oracle and Sun Middle East
