Westpac's BT wealth management unit is preparing to switch off five legacy systems in a project that could provide a blueprint for decommissioning aging core banking platforms.

The project, expected to take up to four years, will tap into a range of Web 2.0 systems to enable banks to dump old software without having to risk a big-bang overhaul.

"We have five legacy superannuation systems, none of which were really in good shape to be a target for consolidation, so they're all going to turned off," BT chief information officer Tony Forward said.   "The superannuation project will take us another three or four years and a lot of dollars."

Central to the project will be a suite of systems BT deployed over the past two years under a $20 million initiative that plugged BT superannuation products directly into Westpac's online banking website for the first time.   Superannuation and banking platforms typically sit far apart and BT had to link 70 applications so superannuation accounts could appear and transact through Westpac's internet bank.   Technologies deployed to produce the platform, launched late last month to support BT's Super for Life product included web services and enterprise data buses to free up the flow of information between BT and Westpac.

In recent years banks have pinpointed technology that sits in service-oriented architectures, as critical to replacing core banking platforms without having to engage in risky and expensive projects.   Banks hope to employ SOAs to decouple software used to manage products from the core banking systems that drive transactions, reducing their reliance on older technology and allowing them to bring new products to market faster.

"The level of integration we've done here is very thorough," Mr Forward said. "It's very much a new world application. It's Web 2.0."   BT would be able to reuse many of the systems developed for the BT Super for Life project in its legacy transformation, reducing the costs of the undertaking, Mr Forward said.

Westpac would draw on BT's work for its own legacy transformation and both BT and Westpac employees were already skilled up because of the Super for Life project, he said.
BT Super for Life systems that will be reused in coming years include its new Composer superannuation platform provided by Wollongong firm InfoComp, enterprise data buses built on Tibco technology, and numerous web services.

The systems will also be reused to pump further BT products through to Westpac's online banking website, although decisions are yet to be made on the products that will be targeted first.

"We're looking at other opportunities to sell fund management services through Westpac online. We're also reusing the underlying technology for various other things, particularly customer facing applications," Mr Forward said.

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November 13, 2007