Traditionally, IT systems of enterprises were formed for the tasks of automation, support of target systems, such as, for example, ERP. Today, organizations have to solve other problems - the tasks of digitalization, digital transformation. It is difficult to do this on the basis of the old IT architecture. Digital transformation is a serious challenge.
What should be based on the program of transformation of IT systems for the purpose of digital business transformation?
The right IT infrastructure is the key to success
As modern solutions for data center infrastructure, vendors offer a variety of traditional, converged and hyper-converged systems, as well as cloud platforms. They help companies stay competitive, leverage the value of their data, and bring new products and services to market faster.
The change in the IT landscape is also due to the introduction of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, the Internet of things, big data, and cloud services.
Survey results show that 72% of organizations will implement digital transformation strategies over the next two years. The number of devices by 2020 will grow by 40% and reach 50 billion. A 53% growth in the development of artificial intelligence and cognitive technologies is expected, 56% of companies by 2020 will use the blockchain.
According to IDC analysts, by 2020, at least 55% of organizations will be focused on digital transformation, transforming markets and changing the image of the future by creating new business models and the digital component of products and services.
By 2020, 80% of organizations will create data management and monetization tools, thereby expanding their capabilities, strengthening their competitiveness and creating new sources of income.
By 2021, advanced intra-industry value chains will expand their digital platforms to the entire multi-channel ecosystem through the adoption of blockchain, thereby reducing transaction costs by 35%.
At the same time, 49% of organizations are severely limited in budgets, 52% need a more productive technology platform, 39% want to work with more reliable partners (The Wall Street Journal, CIO Blog).
Blockchain technology is becoming one of the key drivers of digital transformation. In particular, according to IDC forecast, By 2021, approximately 30% of manufacturers and retailers around the world will form a digital trust based on blockchain services, which will allow building collaborative and will enable consumers to get acquainted with the history of the creation of products.
Since all participants in the chain are verified and identified, the blockchain is well suited for environments with high security requirements, such as banks. Some of them have already incorporated blockchain into their digital transformation strategies. For example, Lenovo is working to create a digital identity system that will be used by government agencies and commercial banks, introducing new blockchain platforms.
From hype to reality
Blockchain is now turning from a hype into a real business tool. Transparency of business processes increases the trust of their participants, which affects business efficiency. It is no coincidence that the largest companies in the world are mastering the blockchain. For example, Amazon Web Services offers blockchain tools for companies that want to use distributed systems but don't want to develop them themselves. Clients include Change Healthcare, which manages payments between hospitals, insurance companies and patients, provider of workforce management software Workday, and clearing house DTCC.
Microsoft Azure launched Azure Blockchain Workbench last year, a tool for developing blockchain applications. Users include Insurwave, Webjet, Xbox, BΓΌhler, Interswitch, 3M and Nasdaq.
Nestle has tested the blockchain in more than ten projects. Most promising collaboration with IBM Food Trust, which uses blockchain to track the origin of ingredients in a range of products, including Gerber baby food. The service is expected to be available in Europe later this year.
BP is investing in blockchain to improve the efficiency of commodity trading. The oil company is one of the founders of Vakt, a blockchain platform aimed at digitizing contracting and invoicing. BP has invested more than $20 million in blockchain projects.
BBVA, the second largest bank in Spain, has announced the first blockchain-based loan in a deal with power grid operator Red Electrica CorporaciΓ³n. Citigroup has invested in several startups (Digital Asset Holdings, Axoni, SETL, Cobalt DL, R3, and Symbiont) that develop blockchain and distributed ledgers for securities settlement, credit swaps, and insurance payouts. Last year, Citi entered into an agreement with Barclays and software infrastructure provider CLS to launch LedgerConnect, an app store where companies can purchase blockchain tools.
Swiss bank UBS's ambitious project, the Utility Settlement Coin (USC), will allow central banks to use digital money instead of their own currencies to transfer funds between themselves. UBS' USC partners include BNY Mellon, Deutsche Bank and Santander.
And these are just a few examples that demonstrate the growing interest in the blockchain. However, pioneers face difficult challenges.
"Intellectual" transformation
Changing business models requires serious competence, design and implementation of a platform that allows not only to transfer everything to the "digit", but to ensure the effective interaction of deployed solutions. Initially put on the wrong track, the process of digital transformation is then very difficult to rebuild. Hence, failures and disappointments in the implementation of some digitalization projects.
Over the past decades, data centers have evolved markedly, becoming software-defined (SDDC), but many companies continue to operate legacy data centers, and this makes it difficult to digitalize such organizations.
Data center transformation: virtualization and transition to SDDC.
Lenovo has been manufacturing server hardware and systems for data centers since 2014, having inherited this business from IBM. Today, the company ships 100 servers per hour and is one of the top 4 manufacturers of this product in the world. It has already released more than 20 million servers. The presence of own production facilities helps to control product quality, ensure high reliability of servers (according to the ITIC reliability rating for x86 servers over the past 6 years).
The project that will be discussed below is one example of a successful digital transformation. It was implemented on the basis of Lenovo equipment at the Central Bank of Azerbaijan. A similar project is being implemented at the Central Bank of Russia, which on the use of blockchain in the development of the Russian financial system.
The Central Bank of Azerbaijan implemented blockchain technologies in parallel with the deployment of a new software-defined IT platform based on Lenovo products.
The first blockchain ecosystem in Azerbaijan
In this project, the regulator decided to build an entire blockchain ecosystem, however, in terms of digital transformation, many banks are by no means leaders, but conservatives, and are used to working the old fashioned way. The additional complexity of the project was conditioned by the need to create not only a technological basis for the use of the blockchain, but also changes in the legislative and regulatory framework.
Finally, the scale of the project, called "Personal Identification Systems". In this case, this includes the βsingle windowβ service (public services) implemented by a special agency, and commercial banks that check their clients against various lists, and the Central Bank as a regulator. All this had to be combined using blockchain technologies with a distributed ledger. Similar projects have already been implemented or are being implemented in different countries of the world.
At this stage, the pilot stage of the project is being completed. It is scheduled to launch by the end of 2019. Technology partners include Lenovo and Nutanix, IBM and Intel. Lenovo developed the software and hardware. Lenovo and Nutanix, a well-known developer of hyperconverged and cloud platforms, have already accumulated experience of cooperation in the implementation of projects in Russia and the CIS.
This decision will be applied by various state bodies, such as the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Taxes, etc., as well as commercial banks. Today, in order to, for example, open accounts in several banks, a client needs to be identified in each of them. Now the digital signature of the client stored in the blockchain will be used, and the organization requesting the document from an individual or legal entity will receive it during an electronic transaction. To open an account, a bank client will not even need to leave home.
Ecosystem participants using a digital identity system.
In the future, the project is planned to be expanded, in particular, to connect a video identification service to it, to integrate various financial platforms and international databases into public services.
βThis project actually covers the entire range of government services in the country,β says Rasim Bakhshi, head of business development for hyperconverged infrastructure solutions at Lenovo in the CIS countries. β Its software and hardware platform is made up of four-processor Lenovo servers with Nutanix software. These latest solutions made their debut in this project, during their announcement at the SAP conference in 2018. Taking into account the tight deadlines of the project and the wishes of the client, they were put into production three months ahead of schedule.β
Three of these high-performance servers in one rack can handle the growth in load over the next five years.
Nutanix has already participated in such large-scale projects, for example, its software is used in the well-known Russian traffic control system Platon. It allows efficient use of the hardware platform and replaces classic storage systems, while computing resources are divided into separate server blocks.
The result is a high-performance and compact solution that does not take up much space in the data center, increasing the return on investment many times over.
Expected results
The project involves the development of a blockchain infrastructure between financial institutions, the development of a digital transformation plan and the creation of a digital identification system based on .
In this project, it is planned to implement the following digital services on the blockchain:
- Opening a bank account for individuals and legal entities.
- Applying for a loan.
- Signing digital contracts client-bank.
- Video customer identification service.
- Other banking and insurance services.
The identification process will follow the W3C standards and the W3C principles of decentralized identity to the maximum extent possible, comply with GDPR requirements, and ensure data protection from fraud and spoofing.
Digital identity system - trusted identity under control.
The project also involves integration with the current identification services used by the Central Bank of Azerbaijan, such as video identification, fingerprint scanning, certifying new generation personal cards, as well as integration with banking systems and e-government services. In the future, integration with new technologies and systems is planned.
Solution architecture
The solution uses the Lenovo ThinkAgile HX7820 Appliance on Intel Xeon (Skylake) processors, and Nutanix's Acropolis solution was chosen as the virtualization platform.
Hardware and software architecture of the project.
The solution is based on the main and backup sites. The main site has a three-node cluster of Lenovo hx7820 servers with Nutanix AOS ULT/AHV/Prism PRO+ software, Red Hat OS Docker, Hyperledger Fabric, and IBM and third-party applications. The rack also contains a NE2572 RackSwitch G7028 network switch and a UPS.
Redundant sites use two-node clusters based on Lenovo ROBO hx1320 hardware and Nutanix AOS ULT/AHV/Prism PRO software, Red Hat OS, IBM and third-party applications. The rack also contains a NE2572 RackSwitch G7028 network switch and a UPS.
Lenovo ThinkAgile HX7820 platforms preloaded with Nutanix Acropolis hyperconverged software is an industry-proven, scalable suite with simplified management and support for ThinkAgile Advantage Single Point. The first four-processor platforms Lenovo HX7820 were delivered for a blockchain project at the Central Bank of Azerbaijan.
Blockchain project based on and Nutanix Acropolis in Baku for "Personal Identity System" integrates multiple bank registries and allows financial institutions to build scalable distributed solutions based on Lenovo-Nutanix infrastructure to manage real-time transactions such as opening bank accounts online, etc. This platform is also planned to be used to provide Blockchain-as-a-Service cloud services.
This platform accelerates implementation by 85%, takes up one-third less space in the data center compared to a traditional system, and reduces administration by 57% due to simpler and unified management (ESG data).
It is worth noting that Lenovo also uses blockchain in its own business processes. Specifically, the company will use the technology to monitor the supply chains of hardware and software used in its data centers.
Blockchain technology will also be one of the components that IBM, under an agreement with the vendor, will integrate into Lenovo client systems, including Virtual Assistant for technical support, the Client Insight Portal advanced personalization tool, and augmented reality technology.
In February 2018, Lenovo filed a patent with the US Patent and Trademark Office for a physical document integrity verification system using a "security blockchain".
Lenovo is also partnering with Intel to build solutions based on Intel Select Solutions for Blockchain: Hyperledger Fabric. The blockchain solution will be based on Lenovo's portfolio of server, networking and data center software products.
Blockchain is the main technology of the XNUMXst century for the financial market. Businessmen and politicians in Russia and all over the world call it the "new Internet", so it is a universal and much more convenient way to store information and make deals. In addition, this is a significant savings in resources and increased reliability. Taken by a number of countries, including the leadership of the Russian Federation, the course towards the "fourth technical revolution" implies the adaptation and development of key technologies. The right technological basis is the key to the success of such initiatives.
Source: habr.com