Headlines:
TSYS Consolidating Data Processing EDS, Ness Sign Big Contract in Israel Fla. CU Buys New Corillian Program
TSYS Consolidating Data Processing
The transaction processor Total System Services Inc. plans to build a new data center that will bring its disaster recovery data center functions in-house and consolidate work from two other processing sites.
Chief executive Philip W. Tomlinson said during the company's earnings call July 20 that TSYS outsources its disaster recovery functions to a vendor he would not name.
"As you can imagine we're paying third parties a lot of money these days to provide different levels of disaster recovery," Mr. Tomlinson said. "I think we'd like in this time and age to depend on ourselves to provide that. I think our clients will be much better served and I know they'll feel better about it."
The new center will be in Chandler, Ariz. When it opens TSYS plans to close transaction processing sites at the company's headquarters in Columbus, Ga., and in Tempe, Ariz. Its merchant processing subsidiary, Vital Processing Services LLC, uses the Tempe site. Mr. Tomlinson said the Chandler site was expected to open in September 2006.
Mr. Tomlinson said TSYS has been evaluating the consolidation idea for four years, and that the decision was not a "knee-jerk response" to the data security breaches that have afflicted banks, bank vendors, and merchants in recent months.
However, he said that controlling its own disaster recovery center would give TSYS a competitive advantage over companies that cannot "spend the money on what you're going to have to do in order to keep the banks happy, the associations happy, and maybe most importantly, the regulators happy."
TSYS is 81% owned by Synovus Financial Corp.
EDS, Ness Sign Big Contract in Israel
First International Bank of Israel plans to outsource the operation and maintenance of its computer systems to Electronic Data Systems Corp. of Plano, Tex., and Ness Technologies Inc. of Hackensack, N.J.
Ness Technologies said Wednesday that the eight-year contract is worth $120 million and the largest ever in the Israeli banking industry.
EDS' Israel unit will be responsible for about two-thirds of the work and subcontract the rest to Ness Technologies. The two vendors were selected over a joint bid from International Business Machines Corp. and Matrix IT Ltd. of Israel.
"The bank believes that the project will lead to reduced expenses and/or to increased revenues on annual average of approximately $6 million, gross before taxes," said Yossy Levi, the head of First International's operations and information technology division, in Ness Technologies' press release.
Fla. CU Buys New Corillian Program
Space Coast Credit Union of Melbourne, Fla., is the first company to buy Corillian Corp.'s family banking software.
The Portland, Ore., online banking software vendor announced the deal last week.
Meredith Gibson, the senior vice president of marketing at Space Coast, said in an interview that the $1.3 billion-asset credit union planned to switch from an online banking package provided by Certegy Inc., of St. Petersburg, Fla.
The family banking software is an add-on module to Corillian's standard online consumer banking application. It enables users to grant access to family members and other joint account holders, as well as third parties such as accountants. These capabilities are common in corporate banking, but unusual on the retail side.
Ms. Gibson would not say whether the software would be installed on the credit union's own computers or hosted by a third party, nor would she say when the conversion is expected to be completed.
