Laser Soft to help Andhra Bank adopt cluster banking

Chennai-based Laser Soft Infosystem Ltd has intro-duced Cluster Banking conside-red to be more superior and ideal to the Indian banks vis-à-vis Core Banking solution. The first solution of the kind will go live in Andhra Bank in its 800 branches.

Cluster Banking, developed by Laser Soft perfectly fits into the hierarchy of the Indian Banks, said BS Kamath, Chair-man and MD, Laser Soft Info-systems Ltd. The solution will implement a central computer system at the bank’s head office and a back up server, either in the same city or in a different city. It will provide for as many Zonal Servers or City Servers as required by the bank. The software will assign a cluster center code to each Zonal/Cluster Center. The Zonal Server will be connected to the central system through leased lines. The backup server will be connected to the central server through a high-speed link. 

In the third tier, there will be the Branch Servers, which will be connected to the Zonal Server through leased line. The Branch file server will maintain the entire data base of branch operations and branch will have the capability to function stand alone in the event of leased line link failure. The Zonal Server will have the complete data of all the branches connected to it. The central computer system will store the entire data of all the totally computerized branches. 

Though there are challenges to Cluster Banking in the form of managing the software dep-loyment in Zonal and branches, implementation efforts, provid-ing IT staff in each Cluster cen-ter and data reconciliation between the branch, cluster (zonal) and HO server, but Kamath pointed, “The advan-tage of this solution is that it minimizes cost of technology and networking.

Typically core banking will amount to Rs 180 crore for 200 branches, but in our solutions within a budget of 30-50 crore we can compu-terize 500 branches. Another major limitation of core bank-ing is that it cannot be imple-mented beyond 200 branches. In order to do so one has to invest heavily on the central server. Basically I feel, banks should invest only 10 percent in IT,” said
Kamath. 

Typically Core Banking pro-vides centralized computer sys-tem, whereas in Cluster Bank-ing in addition to Centralized Server, there is the Zonal Server and the Branch Server. 

Nisha Kurian

(CNS)