The Network Becomes the Business Platform at Eurobank EFG in Serbia

Cisco Technology Provides Foundation for New Customer Services
BELGRADE, Serbia, July 2008 - Cisco today announced that Eurobank EFG in Serbia has implemented the Cisco® Service-Oriented Network Architecture (SONA) and Cisco Branch Optimization solution to create a network that serves as the platform for rapid growth. The architectural approach gives Eurobank EFG a foundation for employee collaboration, new services to customers and tight cost control.

In 2003 Eurobank EFG Group entered the Serbian market by purchasing Post Bank, a small bank operating at a single location and focused on large corporate clients. Eurobank EFG’s plan was to become one of the leading universal banks in Serbia, and it needed a new foundation to rapidly create a strong market presence. Its strategy was to offer innovative financial products and deliver excellent customer service through a network of local branches.

Eurobank EFG did so by adopting the Cisco “network as the platform” approach, designing a converged, highly secure and scalable infrastructure based on Cisco technologies. The resulting converged network supports Cisco Unified Communications and all business applications and provides high levels of security through the Cisco Self-Defending Network solution.

“Standardized policies and configurations mean that we can bring a branch on to the network within three hours,” said Efi Persvia, the head of information technology for EFG. “Following the acquisition of the National Savings Bank, using a standardized configuration based on Cisco equipment, we were able to bring 70 branches ’online’ in just 10 working days. What is more, centralizing services over a converged network has reduced our carbon footprint compared to the extra equipment and cabling that would have been required to support separate voice and data networks.”

Cisco’s SONA enables network-based services such as security, mobility and identity to be connected with specific banking applications. Security is an important feature of the entire network, which benefits from Cisco’s end-to-end Self-Defending Network approach. Various devices and techniques are used, including firewalls, traffic encryption, Cisco’s Intrusion Prevention System and the Cisco Security Monitoring, Analysis and Response System (Cisco Security MARS), an appliance-based, all-inclusive solution that provides the bank with the ability to view and manage all security events.

In the branches, extensive use is made of Cisco’s Integrated Services Routers, which, in one platform, support a wide range of services, such as voice, security and wireless, thereby removing the need for separate devices. Having invested in an intelligent networking platform, Eurobank EFG can seamlessly add new technologies to support its growing business requirements.