Red Hat (NYSE: RHT), the world's leading provider of open source solutions, and IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that Banco Pastor, the seventh largest Spanish banking group with 650 branch offices in Spain and a presence in the US and the main capital cities in Europe and Latin America, has migrated its critical human resources and corporate emailing systems running SAP NetWeaver® and SAP ERP and IBM Lotus Notes for Collaboration software to Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Through a combination of Red Hat Enterprise Linux on IBM System z10, Banco Pastor has experienced decreased annual IT costs of 30 percent for the platform supporting its emailing system, improved performance and increased scalability for the platforms running its SAP and IBM Lotus Notes applications.
By the end of 2008, Banco Pastor looked to update its human resources management system and opted for SAP solutions for its payroll, career and training systems. Banco Pastor desired a new operating platform that would help it to scale with growth, reduce costs and provide flexibility for the infrastructure supporting those applications. The bank's email system, based on IBM Lotus Notes, also needed an updated operating platform base to provide the reliability, security and efficiency needed to serve its professional workforce, as well as the critical internal applications that rely on the platform. Banco Pastor's selection of Red Hat Enterprise Linux on IBM System z10 reflects its confidence in one of the world's most sophisticated business servers, with the equivalent computing capacity of nearly 1,500 x86 servers with an 85 percent smaller footprint and up to 85 percent lower energy costs.
Having previously utilized Red Hat Enterprise Linux on distributed platforms, Banco Pastor was familiar with Red Hat's technology, its support and ability to deliver reliable, secure, enterprise-class solutions with reduced costs. This experience, coupled with Red Hat's close relationship with IBM and SAP, prompted Banco Pastor to select Red Hat Enterprise Linux for its critical SAP systems and Lotus applications. Today, Banco Pastor's SAP and Lotus infrastructure is based on two IBM System z10 Business Class Mainframes running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.
"Our consolidation project and upgrade to the SAP system is a critical component of our business strategy and we needed to ensure that we selected the optimal operating platform and hardware for immediate results and future scalability. We valued the close integration with Red Hat, SAP and IBM and with Red Hat's service and technical support, we knew we made the right decision. The performance of our Red Hat systems has matched our expectations as well," said Montserrat Torres, computer systems manager at Banco Pastor.
The combination of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, IBM System z and SAP applications has provided Banco Pastor with a significant reduction in annual IT costs, a strengthened ability to scale with continued business and IT platform growth and the ability to manage resources easily and with optimal performance.
"With our Red Hat solution, we have achieved annual cost savings of up to 30 percent in recurring expenses. But more importantly, Red Hat Enterprise Linux on IBM System z has enabled our IT team to plan the resources required to manage the SAP system in a dynamic way, without having to increase the number of machines, and consequently to reduce the complexity of the platform and control the management costs," said Torres. "Red Hat provides proven enterprise-class solutions at an affordable price. We make our IT decisions with our business, the required performance and the associated operating costs in mind. In that sense, running SAP and Lotus Notes applications on Red Hat Enterprise Linux delivers maximum value to our business."
"Through the server consolidation benefits of Red Hat Enterprise Linux on IBM System z10 Business Class, customers like Banco Pastor can invest in innovative solutions that deliver important cost reductions and improve their services and security," said Carlos Roldan, IBM System z manager in Spain, Portugal, Greece and Israel. "The proven performance of Red Hat Enterprise Linux on System z allows Banco Pastor to increase their response capability and the availability of their business applications."
To read the full Banco Pastor case study, visit www.customers.redhat.com.
For more information about IBM, visit www.ibm.com/mainframe.