Automatia

HP customer
case study:
HP servers process
cash withdrawals
for five million bank
customers
Industry:
Financial services
AUTOMATIA’S HIGH AVAILABILITY SYSTEMS
KEEP FINLAND’S CASH FLOWING
Case Study
“We rely on the HP Integrity NonStop BladeSystem
to process around 160 million ATM withdrawals a
year, which ensures that the people of Finland can
always gain access to their cash.” Esa Makkonen, chief
information officer, Automatia
Objective
Implement new ATM functions and applications while
decreasing the price per transaction
Approach
Sought a more powerful solution that could deliver
zero application downtime, extreme scalability,
business continuity and exceptional security levels
IT improvements
• Simplified the technical architecture, resulting in
easier and more cost-effective management and
operation
• Achieved 100 per cent uninterrupted application
availability meeting service level agreements with
banks
• Introduced greater CPU power to support new
developments such as self-service deposit terminals
Business benefits
• Lowers operational costs by combining fault tolerant
features with the time and energy efficiencies of
blades
• Provided a clear five-year technology path to keep
pace with budget planning and projected business
growth
Instant access to cash is a vital requirement in today’s
consumer society and bank customers expect ATMs to be
available day and night.
To provide this vital service, banks in Finland decided that
instead of each operating their own ATM network, they
would replace their expensive, disparate system with a
single pooled resource. This led to the launch of the new
company, Automatia, which now operates all the country’s
ATMs and also manages the delivery of cash to the banks.
Sophisticated systems
Owned by the three largest banks, Nordea Bank, OP-
Pohjola Group and Sampo Bank, Automatia operates
the nationwide Otto ATM network which serves all
Finnish bank customers, as well as foreign Visa and
Mastercard users. There are some 1,700 Otto ATMs which
provide cash for approximately five million people and
process 160 million withdrawals a year.
Despite huge responsibilities, Automatia operates with
just 30 employees. Formed in 1994, the company
made a strategic decision to outsource IT services rather
than run them in-house. Drawing money from a cash
point is a simple procedure but behind the scenes it
requires highly-sophisticated information systems that
meet security requirements while ensuring 100 per cent
availability. Automatia required systems that would ensure
uninterrupted application availability and could cope with
future increases in demand. It also required an outsourcing
partner who could carry out regular audits, run quality
processes and conduct comprehensive testing.