case study

SBI Goes Beyond Geography

State Bank of India

industry:

Executive Summary

Solution Delivered

Financial Services

The State Bank of India (SBI) has

extended collaboration without
borders to the next level. It has
adopted an enterprise wide IT
strategy aimed at integrating its
service channels, ramping up its
efficiency levels, and enabling it
to roll out a new generation of
products by building a converged
IP network.

Over a period of eight years, starting in

2002, Dimension Data worked with the
Cisco Internet Business Solutions Unit, built
and deployed an integrated IP network
that powers all the banks business
processes in some of the worlds most
high-tech cities as well as in Indias most
remote rural areas. Applications powered
by the network range from core banking,
treasury operations and trade finance to
inter-branch voice communication and
unified messaging. The project, which has
met all budget and timeline requirements,
was executed in five phases. Phase I
covered 1,400 branches in 49 cities. Phase
II covered 3,400 branches in more than
300 cities. Phase III involved networking
the remaining 6,100 branches. Phase IV
covered an additional 2,800 branches, and
phase V, which touches 2,000 branches, is
currently ongoing.

country:
India

business challenge:
The need to ensure reliable
connectivity across 15,000 branches
in order to grow market share,
increase revenue and enhance
customer satisfaction

solution:
Partnering with a global systems integrator

services:
Planning, deployment and
management of an integrated,
three-tier Cisco IP network

results:
An integrated IP network that
powers all the banks business
processes in some of the worlds
most high-tech cities as well as in
Indias most remote rural areas
The bank is now optimally
positioned for future deployment
of a single infrastructure for
voice communication while
still complying with regulatory
obligations

In doing so, the bank has demonstrated

the true meaning of unified
communications as distinct from simply
allowing a proliferation of different
communications capabilities.

Client Overview
SBI is Indias largest and the worlds fifth
largest bank, with more than 90 million
customers, 15,000 branches and 7,000
ATMs in India and 40 other countries.

Business Challenge
Executing an enterprise wide IT strategy
to integrate ones service channels is no
mean feat for any organisation. When
your operations are scattered across a
myriad of geographies and time zones,
its even trickier. SBI recognised that
success required the company to enlist the
expertise of a partner to design, build, and
manage a converged network capable of
carrying all its present and future traffic.
The integrator would also be responsible
for bandwidth, all networking equipment,
software, and management as well as a
24x7 helpdesk, service level agreements,
and the management of scheduled and
unscheduled network outages.

The new network has been designed to

give SBI a seamless flow of transactions,
streamline data gathering and
dissemination and support an integrated
view of products across all channels.
The system is based on a three-tier, selfhealing corporate wide area network
(WAN), which has a centralised data centre
in Mumbai and a backup in Chennai. The
three tiers comprise a core linking the
countrys four main cities, a distribution
network linking local head offices and
zonal offices back to the core metro

case study | State Bank of India

cities, and an access network for the end

branches. SBIs converged system is based
on IP telephony, with some 15,500 IP
phones being deployed and a closed user
group (CUG) voice solution providing 24x7
availability for voice. This has enabled
standardisation of voice equipment
across the organisation and drastic
cutting of the costs of inter-branch voice
communications.

when the cause is not network related.

Value Derived

Dimension Datas service level management

responsibilities include partnering with
the telecommunications service provider,
Telco, and other third-party vendors to
ensure that all service level agreement
requirements are fully aligned and
delivered upon. Dimension Data acts
as a single point of billing from Telco,
on the banks behalf. Dimension Datas
vendor-management responsibilities
include managing the banks contract with
third-party spares suppliers, synchronising
all logistical arrangements for delivery of
spares, and recovering any penalties from
the banks spares suppliers.

The system allows advanced integrated

applications, such as billing and
accounting, XML-based services, voicemail,
unified messaging, conferencing and
collaboration solutions, and directory
support, to be rolled out as services on
the network when the bank requires
them. Future manageability and scalability
have therefore become simple and costeffective. The bank is now optimally
positioned for future deployment
of a single infrastructure for voice
communication while still complying with
regulatory obligations.
Management of the banks IP telephony
system is monitored through Dimension
Datas Global Service Centre in Bangalore.
Bank executives are provided with a
dashboard that enables them to see at
any time whether any part of the system is
down and what sort of fault is the cause.
This enables the bank to immediately take
remedial action within its own departments

CS / DDCC-0787 / 03/11 Copyright Dimension Data 2011

Seamless connectivity is assured through

the use of leased lines and bandwidth
is provided by three separate Telcos
coordinated by Dimension Data.
Unbroken service is guaranteed by
Dimension Datas Uptime maintenance
service, which incorporates detailed service
level agreements, including penalties for
network downtime.

In addition, through its managed service,

Dimension Data takes ownership and
accountability for all processes and
service outcomes.
In total, Dimension Data has over 700
engineers across the region, covering 150
cities working on behalf of SBI.

For further information visit: www.dimensiondata.com/solutions