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The IT cloud 云計(jì)算 Silver linings 一線曙光 Banks big and small are embracing cloud computing 大大小小的銀行都在轉(zhuǎn)投云計(jì)算 Jul 20th 2013 |From the print edition  1 “I’VE only got one IT guy,” says Segun Akintemi, the chief executive of Renaissance Credit, a Nigerian moneylender that opened for business in October 2012 and signed up about 3,000 customers in its first six months. “Whenever I walk past his desk he is surfing the web.” That the firm has just one bored computer specialist is not a sign of backwardness. On the contrary, Renaissance Credit is ahead of its time when it comes to technology. Its information processing takes place in the “cloud”, the term for software and services delivered over the internet. 晉新信貸（Renaissance Credit）2012年10月才在尼日利亞投入運(yùn)營(yíng)，頭六個(gè)月就發(fā)展了3000名左右的簽約客戶。這家信貸機(jī)構(gòu)的總經(jīng)理Segun Akintemi曾說(shuō)：“我只有一名IT雇員。每次我從他的工位旁邊經(jīng)過(guò)，都看到他在瀏覽網(wǎng)頁(yè)”。只擁有一名無(wú)所事事的計(jì)算機(jī)專(zhuān)業(yè)人員并不意味著這個(gè)企業(yè) 很落后。恰恰相反，晉新信貸在技術(shù)方面說(shuō)得上是領(lǐng)先于時(shí)代的。這家企業(yè)的信息處理在“云”里完成，“云”是指通過(guò)互聯(lián)網(wǎng)提供軟件和服務(wù)。 2 The emergence of cloud-based banking promises to affect banks big and small. Banks are expected to spend almost $180 billion on IT this year, according to Celent, a consultancy. For the moment cloud-based services make up a tiny fraction of this amount, but by some estimates spending by financial-services firms on the cloud will total $26 billion in 2015. This increase should lower barriers to entry for newcomers, which can rent modern IT infrastructure at monthly fees of less than $10,000 rather than having to invest tens of millions of dollars upfront to build their own secure data centres. And it should also enable big banks to become much more cost-efficient. 基于“云”的銀行服務(wù)的興起將影響大大小小的銀行。根據(jù)咨詢(xún)公司Celent估算，今年所有銀行花 在信息化上的支出將近1800億美元，其中基于“云”的服務(wù)只占其中的很小一部分。然而有人預(yù)測(cè)到2015年金融企業(yè)在“云”上開(kāi)銷(xiāo)將達(dá)260億美元。這 種變化將降低金融市場(chǎng)的準(zhǔn)入門(mén)檻，讓新進(jìn)入者可以以每月不到10，000美元的成本租用現(xiàn)代化的信息基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施，省得要花好幾千萬(wàn)美元去建一個(gè)自己的安全數(shù) 據(jù)中心。大銀行也可以通過(guò)這種方式提高成本效益。 3 Small firms, without legacy computer systems to constrain them, are the fastest movers. Renaissance Credit’s embrace of cloud computing has been almost total. Its employees type documents, run spreadsheets and read e-mails in the cloud. Its banking software, which keeps track of clients, payments and loans, runs on a cloud-computing platform using off-the-shelf banking software provided by Temenos, a specialist provider. 由于沒(méi)有老舊計(jì)算機(jī)系統(tǒng)的約束，小型企業(yè)的遷移動(dòng)作最快。晉新信貸幾乎是全面投向了云計(jì)算：其雇員在“云”中輸入文檔，運(yùn)行電子表格和閱讀電子郵件。該銀行用于跟蹤客戶、支付和貸款的業(yè)務(wù)系統(tǒng)軟件由專(zhuān)業(yè)軟件提供商Temenos提供，運(yùn)行在“云”計(jì)算平臺(tái)上，打開(kāi)就能用①。 4 By using standard software and running it in existing data centres, the firm has dramatically cut its start-up costs; it pays a fee based on the number of clients it has and can simply keep scaling up as it grows. It has also been able to get off the ground quickly. It took just two months to go into operation after signing contracts with its suppliers. Despite outsourcing all its IT activities, it still needs at least one geek on hand. His main job, Mr Akintemi says, is to take new computers out of their boxes and plug them in. 通過(guò)使用運(yùn)行在現(xiàn)有的數(shù)據(jù)中心之上的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化軟件，該銀行大幅削減了啟動(dòng)成本。相關(guān)費(fèi)用按照用戶數(shù)收 取，系統(tǒng)規(guī)模能夠隨著業(yè)務(wù)成長(zhǎng)而輕松擴(kuò)展。晉新信貸的啟動(dòng)速度非?？?，和供應(yīng)商簽訂合同之后只過(guò)了兩個(gè)月，它就開(kāi)始投入運(yùn)營(yíng)了。雖然它把所有的信息技術(shù)工 作全部外包了，但還是聘請(qǐng)了一位技術(shù)高手。Akintemi說(shuō)，他的主要工作就是把計(jì)算機(jī)從盒子里拿出來(lái)并接好線。 5 Big banks have generally migrated less of their activity to the cloud than newer, smaller ones. This is partly because of legacy systems, partly because of regulatory concerns about data security and privacy. But the pressure to reduce spending is likely to force the pace of change. Simon Samuels of Barclays notes that whereas revenues at big European banks rose by 18% a year on average before the financial crisis, they have shrunk in recent years. One way of improving cost-income ratios is to lob activities into the cloud. 和才成立不久的小型銀行相比，大銀行已遷移到“云”中的業(yè)務(wù)通常比較少。一方面原因是老的系統(tǒng)還在 使用，另一方面對(duì)數(shù)據(jù)安全和保密還有管理上的顧慮。然而削減開(kāi)支的壓力估計(jì)最終會(huì)加快他們的遷移步伐。巴克萊銀行的西蒙·塞繆爾斯指出，歐洲銀行在經(jīng)濟(jì)危 機(jī)之前營(yíng)業(yè)收入平均每年增長(zhǎng)18%，而這幾年以來(lái)收入一直在下降。要改善成本收入比率，把業(yè)務(wù)遷移到“云”是一種選擇。 6 Banks in the rich world have started outsourcing the processing of data that does not involve sensitive client information but does require massive computing resources, says Colin Kerr, who heads Microsoft’s banking business. These include tasks such as “Monte Carlo” simulations in which banks run calculations millions of times over, each with slightly different variables, to assess what may happen to the prices of their assets or derivatives if markets move suddenly. 微軟公司的銀行業(yè)務(wù)部門(mén)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)科林·克爾說(shuō)，富裕國(guó)家銀行已經(jīng)開(kāi)始把不包含客戶敏感信息而又需要海量 計(jì)算資源的數(shù)據(jù)處理任務(wù)外包出去，其中包括“蒙特卡羅”模擬。這種模擬用于評(píng)估如果市場(chǎng)突然出現(xiàn)變化，對(duì)銀行所持有的資產(chǎn)或金融衍生品的價(jià)格會(huì)有什么樣的 影響。同一模擬銀行可能會(huì)重復(fù)運(yùn)算上百萬(wàn)次，每次只會(huì)有幾個(gè)變量有所不同。 7 Bankinter, a tech-savvy Spanish bank, runs its complex credit-risk simulations on Amazon’s cloud platform. Calculations that previously took more than 20 hours to complete on the bank’s own systems are now done in 20 minutes. Big banks are also renting resources in the cloud when they need safe test environments in which they can mirror their own computer systems and then make changes or updates without the risk of crashing the entire bank. 技術(shù)領(lǐng)先的西班牙銀行Bankinter目前在亞馬遜的云計(jì)算平臺(tái)上進(jìn)行復(fù)雜的信用風(fēng)險(xiǎn)模擬分析。 以前用銀行自有系統(tǒng)來(lái)計(jì)算的時(shí)候，這個(gè)分析需要20個(gè)小時(shí)才能完成，而使用亞馬遜平臺(tái)20分鐘之內(nèi)就可以得出結(jié)果了。大型銀行在需要安全測(cè)試環(huán)境的時(shí)候， 也會(huì)租用“云”資源。這樣他們可以系統(tǒng)的鏡像建立到“云”里面，在鏡像上做修改或升級(jí)，以避免讓整個(gè)銀行系統(tǒng)崩潰的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。 8 Many banks are reconfiguring their own computer systems into private clouds, a hybrid step in which they have sole use of a data centre (these are shared in the “public cloud”), but derive some efficiencies from using the software and systems that run public clouds. Bank SinoPac, a Taiwanese lender, will cut its IT infrastructure costs by almost half by moving from a mainframe computer to a private cloud. Barclays and Deutsche Bank have moved some functions into private clouds. 許多銀行正在重新配置自有的計(jì)算機(jī)系統(tǒng)，將之改造為私有云。這是一個(gè)混合式的階段，銀行在獨(dú)占的數(shù) 據(jù)中心上（共享的數(shù)據(jù)中心屬于“公共云”）運(yùn)行和公有云一致的軟件和系統(tǒng)以獲得效率上的一定提升。臺(tái)灣永豐商業(yè)銀行是一家貸款機(jī)構(gòu)，它通過(guò)把業(yè)務(wù)系統(tǒng)從大 型機(jī)上遷移到私有云中，差不多能減少一半的信息技術(shù)基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施成本。巴克萊銀行和德意志銀行已經(jīng)將某些業(yè)務(wù)遷移到了私有云中。 9 There are, however, impediments to the wide adoption of cloud computing. One is the worry over security and data protection. For small banks with limited resources, the large data centres provided by firms such as Amazon or Microsoft are probably safer and more reliable than any that they could build themselves. Large banks, many of which have already built their own bomb-proof secure data centres, are reluctant to hand over client data to outsiders. The theft of data or a major systems failure by a bank with its operations in the cloud would doubtless prompt regulators to slam on the brakes, too. 然而，云計(jì)算的普及仍存在障礙。其中一點(diǎn)是銀行對(duì)數(shù)據(jù)能否妥善、安全地保存抱有疑慮。對(duì)于資源有限 的小銀行來(lái)說(shuō)，亞馬遜或微軟提供的大型數(shù)據(jù)中心可能比自己投錢(qián)去建的還要安全可靠。而許多大銀行已經(jīng)建造了連炮擊都不怕的安全數(shù)據(jù)中心，所以不愿把客戶數(shù) 據(jù)外移。如果銀行把業(yè)務(wù)遷移到“云”中之后出現(xiàn)數(shù)據(jù)失竊或重大系統(tǒng)故障，那么監(jiān)管者無(wú)疑將會(huì)對(duì)此叫停。 You cannot be cirrus 要?jiǎng)诱娓瘢?span>② 10 Some countries insist that client data are not allowed to leave their national borders, which could force cloud-computing firms to build small data centres in many markets, reducing the scope for cost savings. Many regulators also want to be able to inspect and, in the words of one IT specialist, “put their hand on” the computer server holding client data. Providers of cloud services can be reluctant to allow inspections because they try to keep the locations of server farms secret. “The more you open up your data centres, the more vulnerable you make them,” says one. 一些國(guó)家嚴(yán)格禁止把銀行客戶數(shù)據(jù)存儲(chǔ)在國(guó)外，云計(jì)算公司不得不在這些國(guó)家里建設(shè)規(guī)模較小的數(shù)據(jù)中 心，這樣一來(lái)能夠利用規(guī)模效應(yīng)節(jié)約下來(lái)的成本也就少了。許多監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu)還要求能夠?qū)?shù)據(jù)進(jìn)行檢查，用信息專(zhuān)業(yè)人士的話來(lái)說(shuō)，這叫“把手放在”保存客戶數(shù)據(jù)的 計(jì)算機(jī)服務(wù)器上。云服務(wù)提供商可能并不想讓人來(lái)檢查，他們不希望公司以外的人員知道服務(wù)器所在的物理位置。有個(gè)人是這樣說(shuō)的“數(shù)據(jù)中心越開(kāi)放，越容易受到 攻擊?！?br> 11 These problems may change the pace but not the direction of travel. The cost advantages of cloud computing mean that banking services are likely to move inexorably into the ether. If so, the staff in banks’ IT departments will have more time to brush up their solitaire skills. 諸如此類(lèi)的問(wèn)題可能會(huì)影響云計(jì)算的普及速度，但不會(huì)改變普及的大趨勢(shì)。云計(jì)算的成本優(yōu)勢(shì)意味著銀行服務(wù)融入“云”的過(guò)程可能將不以人的意志為轉(zhuǎn)移。如果真是這樣，銀行信息部門(mén)的員工將會(huì)有更多的時(shí)間去刷新他們的“單人紙牌”游戲記錄了。 譯者注： ① 在云技術(shù)的SaaS（軟件即服務(wù)）模式下，軟件已經(jīng)在“云”中安裝配置好，打開(kāi)就能用。 ② 根據(jù)Jess大拿的鑒定You cannot be cirrus其實(shí)就是You cannot be serious。Cirrus最常見(jiàn)的含義是“卷云”。 |
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