The winners of The Banker's technology in retail & investment & wholesale banking
Network Infrastructure solution of the Year
Inmarsat
Inmarsat’s Regional BGAN (regional broadband global area network) is a mobile communications service that offers business users access to data transmissions at more than double the speed of current GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) services, making it the fastest service of its type. The service allows businesses to operate where there is no reliable high-speed network available, providing 144kb/s secure, shared IP internet connectivity from a small terminal about the size of a laptop computer, to approximately one-third of the world
Coverage and throughput is far greater than GPRS, putting Inmarsat’s Regional BGAN at the forefront of communication technology. Faslink Communications in the Philippines is using Inmarsat’s new package data technology to provide network connection to 2800 banks across the country’s 7100 islands and bring integrated banking to the parts that other networks cannot reach. Innovation of approach in reducing physical infrastructure ensured Inmarsat’s victory in this area.
Highly commended
Credence Analytics
Mercury-fx is a software solution that addresses the limitations of the manual process of foreign exchange administration and bookkeeping. Through the use of instant messaging (IM), Mercury-fx overcomes geographical differences to connect client server applications to collaborative applications with distributed databases. Rather than send text messages by IM, XML protocol is used to exchange database information, data entry screens and business logic, such as validations. Mercury-fx provides contextual collaboration to client server applications located in different networks, allowing individual applications to work independently and yet share database information and textual messages with other users.
Mercury-fx has recently been introduced at the Indian Overseas Bank to allow real-time reporting of currency exposures from branches to the central treasury and accounting departments. The panel was impressed with the innovative use of instant messaging of improved workflow without the need for extra infrastructure, such as e-mail or web server based technologies.
