Sergey Nivens - stock.adobe.com
Bank of England enlists development partner to unlock cloud
Bank has agreed a two-year deal with a cloud development platform provider as it seeks to take its cloud journey to the next level
The Bank of England is working with a cloud development platform supplier to support its cloud development journey.
Through a deal with Appvia, the UK financial services regulator’s development teams will have access to a cloud resource orchestration platform to support the development of multicloud environments.
A two-year deal has been agreed and scoping work has begun.
The Bank of England is at an early stage in its journey to cloud, according to Jon Shanks, CEO at Appvia. “It has done some small things in the cloud, but like any organisation, you have to change your operating model to fit with the modernised ways of working around cloud,” he said.
“It’s not as simple as moving a few apps, and that’s why the Bank of England was looking for a partner.”
On top of supplying its platform, Appvia will provide consultancy where required.
Shanks said the project, which is currently in the discovery phase with the two organisations working on priorities, will enable the regulator to “harness the power of Kubernetes”. This is a tool for container orchestration, which enables IT operations to automate the management and scalability of applications running in containers.
Appvia will work with the developers within the Bank of England team and the platform will automate tasks after they have been completed once, reducing the coding work required from developers over time.
The Bank of England said in a statement that Appvia will “support development and project teams within the bank in testing and deploying code in cloud environments, working with security teams to integrate the cloud into existing operational and security processes, and implementing information governance compliance, so staff are able to collaborate safely and securely”.
Read more about Bank of England IT
- The Bank of England will migrate from its current core settlement system with a ‘big-bang’ migration before the end of 2025.
- The Bank of England admits there is room for improvement when it comes to IT efficiency.
- Bank prepares to replace one of the UK’s core financial systems, with Real Time Gross Settlement service set to be modernised.
Oliver Tweedie, head of digital platforms at the Bank of England, said Appvia will help the organisation to “realise its cloud ambitions”.
“Appvia has a great pedigree and a wealth of experience delivering cloud services within government,” he added. “Working in collaboration with bank technology teams, Appvia will help us shape and build the future of cloud services across our organisation – a key part of our technology strategy.”
Appvia has a similar relationship with the UK Home Office, which was its first major customer
Shanks said: “As the public sector starts to harness the power of Kubernetes, creating a fit-for-purpose cloud environment and culture within institutions is a vital piece of the puzzle.
“We will educate, train and help Bank of England developers get the most out of the cloud.”
