Modernizing storage for KBank’s next phase of growth

Founded in 1945, KASIKORNBANK (KBank) is one of Thailand’s leading financial institutions. It has been named Best Retail Bank in Thailand for the past 15 years by The Asian Banker, a banking industry publication and research organization.

KBank has invested heavily in digital services supported by its technology arm, KASIKORN Business-Technology Group (KBTG). As KBank’s digital business expanded, KBTG needed to modernize its legacy storage systems, which were no longer able to support the bank’s growing operational demands. KBTG wanted to improve system performance and reliability while using its data center space and energy more efficiently. It also needed stronger management tools that would allow its teams to anticipate potential problems before they could affect the business.

Modernizing storage

KBTG worked with Huawei to upgrade its storage infrastructure using the OceanStor Dorado 8000, an NVMe all-flash storage system designed for high-performance, mission-critical workloads.

The new system reduced storage response times from a range of 1 to 25 milliseconds to between 1 and 3 milliseconds. It was also designed to deliver 99.9999% reliability and maintain business continuity even when multiple faults occurred.

The improved performance gave KBTG a more responsive foundation for the applications and services used across the bank. At the same time, the consolidated infrastructure made more efficient use of data center space while consuming less power than the systems it replaced.

Managing risks proactively

KBTG also deployed Huawei’s iMaster Digital Management Engine, or iMaster DME, to simplify the management of its storage environment.

The platform automatically checks digital infrastructure for emerging risks. This gives KBTG’s IT teams greater visibility into system performance and allows them to address potential problems before they disrupt banking services.

It also helps the teams respond more quickly when business requirements change. When an anomaly occurs, Huawei can provide support within minutes, helping KBTG reduce the risk of prolonged disruption.

Preparing for growth

The upgrade has improved storage performance and reliability while reducing the physical space and energy needed to operate the infrastructure.

More importantly, the new storage infrastructure gives KBTG a data foundation that can expand alongside the bank’s digital services. As customer expectations and financial technologies continue to evolve, KBank can introduce new products and services without being constrained by aging storage infrastructure.