First Banks Inc. to unify processing on high-end IBM midrange.

First Banks Inc. to Unify Processing on High-End IBM Midrange

First Banks Inc., a $2 billion-asset institution based in St. Louis, will centralize its data processing on a powerful new midrange computer from International Business Machines Corp.

First Banks said last week that it will consolidate its nine data processing systems into a single unit, using an IBM AS/400 model D80 computer and software from FiServ Inc., based in Milwaukee. The consolidation is expected to be completed by September 1992.

"We've been operating in a maze recently," said Thomas A. Bangert, executive vice president at First Banks. "We had to do something to standardize our products and streamline our operations."

Alternative to Mainframe System

The D80 computer, which is the most powerful of IBM's midrange systems, has been touted by IBM as a lower-cost alternative to buying a mainframe computer system.

First Banks presently maintains about 400,000 active accounts, but bank officials said they expect to nearly double that volume by 1996.

The D80 computer, which costs about $600,000, will be able to accommodate that growth, bank officials said.