Reaping Benefits from a System Change
Martin Friis · ABA banking journal · 1989
In 1986, $5-billion-asset First Florida Bank, Tampa, decided to streamline its MAX automated tell- er machine network by replacing its controller-based switching equipment with a single fault-tolerant computer. The change not only improved ATM operations, but also put First Florida in a position to participate in a point-of-sale electronic funds transfer project with a regional supermarket chain. The system will also enable the bank to cut costs by doing credit card transaction authorizations in-house instead of using a third party for that work. Motivation. The bank made the hardware switch to achieve a more simplified and secure operation of its ATM net- work, says Sam Triplett, vice-president and manager of telecommunications. The bank's MAX network is part of the Honor network. Triplett points out that the controllers supported five communications loops, and only one or two ATMs could be connected to each loop. As a result, each controller could only handle a maximum of ten ATMS. As new ATMs were added to the MAX network, the bank had to install additional controllers. By 1986, First Florida had 24 controllers in its network situated in its central and remote data control centers. Having to maintain and monitor 24 controllers was becoming a major network management problem, says Triplett. For instance, every time we wanted to make software changes in our ATM operations, we had to produce and install new floppy disks for each controller. Now we only have to make one change, instead of 24 changes. The use of controllers also left the bank vulnerable to ATM overdrafts. Customers could withdraw their maximum daily allotment of cash from different ATMs attached to different communications loops. We had no way of controlling that with the previous system. Now we do. Fortunately, such withdrawals happened only occasionally because customers did not know about the vulnerability of the system, Triplett adds. Longer hours. With the controller system, the banks' ATMs were on-line for only 16 hours each day, Triplett points out. During the time the system was offline, a $100 limit was imposed on cus- tomer withdrawals. That restriction is no longer in effect, says Triplett, because the new hardware allows 24-hour on-line operation every day. Decision making. First Florida gave the nod to the Stratus fault tolerant system in part because both its operating system and the accompanying ATM application software (provided by Dallas based Shared Financial Systems) were written in Cobol programming lan- guage. 'We wanted to be able to use the capabilities of our own programmers, who are knowledgeable about that language, observes Triplett. Currently 200 ATMs are linked to the new fault tolerant computer. That includes 155 owned by First Florida and 45 by other financial institutions participating in the network. Network operation. Transactions from any ATM in the bank's network are routed first to the Stratus system, which switches the data to the bank's host com- puter to get authorizations of transactions. If a card used in an ATM transaction is from a non-MAX financial institution, the transaction is automatically routed to the Honor switch. POS involvement. When we installed the Stratus system, we didn't have any intention of getting into POS, says Triplett. But in 1987, Kash n' Karry, one of our major customers, asked us to be partners in the development and implementation of a pilot debit-card POS project. The Tampa-based company operates 116 supermarkets. At that time, the bank's fault tolerant computer was only using 30% of its capacity by running the bank's ATM network. Also, Shared Financial Systems had applications software for the Stratus, called ON/2, that was specifically designed for POS operations, Triplett points out. …