Security First Network Bank's
mission was to be the first cyberbank on the internet that could offer its customers a
truly secure online banking solution. With an innovative three-tiered security approach,
the bank met this goal, going live in October 1995. But to stay online, the virtual bank
needed a powerful database capable of processing financial transactions in real time and
serving a customer base with an exponential growth. Security First Network Bank (SFNB)
selected Informix Online Dynamic Server to be the foundation of its banking application on
the World Wide Web.
Secure banking
It's been a long time since many customers entered the lobby of their bank. For years, an
increasing percentage of consumers have relied upon the ATM machine to perform banking
transactions quickly and easily. SFNB wanted to take that convenience one big step closer
to home-or to work-or wherever people have access to the internet, by being the first bank
to do business entirely in cyberspace.
"We wanted to give customers total access to their finances, anytime, anywhere,"
says Michael Karlin, President, SFNB. "We knew we could create an application that
would allow customers to easily pay bills, track income and expanses, create budgets, and
perform cash flow analysis with real-time data. Our goal was to expand beyond these basic
transactions to deliver what we call a "virtual net worth" solution on the
internet a way to get a totally integrated picture in one place, at one time, of your
deposits, checks, money market accounts, credit cards, brokerage accounts, insurance
information, assets, liabilities etc. It will even provide you with access to financial
research, just at the click of a button."
Located at www.sfnb.com, SFNB was the first, branchless bank. To open its
"virtual" doors, the company had to accomplish three key objectives. First, to
attract customers and compete successfully with larger banks, SFNB management believed it
had to be first to market with a secure system for online banking. Secondly, it needed to
design a friendly home page that made online banking easy. Finally, to meet the needs of
its customer base, the application would need to perform data-intensive transactions in
real time. SFNB required a strong database that would guarantee a flexible, reliable, and
scalable growth path.
SFNB met its objectives by pulling together a strong team of technology partners,
including Hewlett-Packard, Secureware, Netscape Communications, Five Paces and Informix.
Unsurpassed security and performance
"When we first started working on the business plan in 1994," says Karlin,
"everyone believed that commerce on the internet was something that would happen in
the future. We had to build consumer confidence in the security and accuracy of our
solution. It was in our best interest to have the banking regulatory agencies on our
side."
The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) is the federal regulatory body for the savings bank
industry. To obtain its approval, SFNB invested in a three-tiered approach to guarantee
the security of its transactions. The first tier, developed by SecureWare and based on the
HP-UX trusted OS, locks data in a "virtual vault" that prevents unauthorized
access each time funds are deposited or a bill is paid. The second tier, provided by
Netscape Communications Corporation, is based on encryption technology that ensures
privacy as data travels over open networks. Finally, firewalls and filtering routers limit
access to the system from external networks.
According to Karlin, "By bringing together for the first time encryption
technologies, firewall and filtering router technologies and HP's Trusted OS technologies,
we have overcome the security problem that had kept comprehensive banking services off the
network. Gaining approval from the OTS was a hard-earned coup for SFNB and gives customers
not just our assurance, but the government's assurance, that our security infrastructure
is solid."
A sound security infrastructure gave SFNB permission to go online, but only a high
performance, scalable database could keep it there. According to David Zygmont, VP,
Product Development, Five Paces, the company that developed SFNB's banking applications,
says that Informix was the obvious choice. "We knew that we would need a robust,
scalable database. We needed a database with the power and reliability to process
time-sensitive transactions in real time. Given the tremendous growth of the internet, we
needed a database that could scale from 1000 customers to hundreds of thousands and
beyond, quickly and easily. The Informix-OnLine Dynamic Server delivered high performance
and was based on the most advanced architecture."
Entering the CyberLobby
SFNB's virtual bank operates in a client/server environment on an HP 9000 Model 715
server, which acts as the bank's main web server and runs the bank application client
software. The database server which front-ends the payment system is an HP 9000 Model K200
server. Five Paces developed an easy-to-use GUI called "Virtual Bank Manager"
designed to emulate a bank lobby.
Through OnLine Dynamic Server, SFNB allows its customers to pay bills, transfer funds,
reconcile their bank statements, and even view a digital image of checks that have
cleared. The application includes linkages to popular personal finance software packages
such as Quicken, for downloading bill paying and account tracking information. In the
coming months, SFNB will add more features of its virtual net worth solution, starting
with credit card transactions.
Customers immediately gravitated to SFNB's cyberbank, even without a lot of heavy
marketing. "Just through word of mouth," says Karlin, "there was an
immediate burst of customer activity. Since then we've experienced consistent growth on a
daily basis. Within our existing customer base, transaction volume is increasing. We
believe that once a customer tries online banking, it becomes a natural part of their
lives."
Keeping up with demand has not been a problem for the company. According to David
Zygmount, "OnLine Dynamic Server handled all the growth demand and still delivered
excellent performance."
FACT-SHEET Industry: Banking Hardware: Hewlett-Packard Application: World Wide Web Partners: SecureWare, Five Paces, Netscape Informix Products: Informix-Online Dynamic Server |