Halifax Bank of Scotland is rolling out Microsoft’s
Windows XP operating system across its banking group in a
multimillion-pound project.
In one of the biggest XP implementations so far, HBOS Group,
which includes Halifax Bank of Scotland, online bank Intelligent
Finance and Clerical Medical, will install Windows XP on 70,000
desktops and 5,000 laptops.
The project will also involve the consolidation of thousands of
servers at HBOS, which was formed in 2001 by the merger of Bank of
Scotland and Halifax.
The upgrade to XP from Windows 2000 is being managed by the
bank’s 2,000-strong technology group, which provides the operations
and IT infrastructure across the bank, including desktops,
automated teller machines and call centres.
The bank would not comment on the cost of the XP roll-out but
Richard Edwards, research analyst at Butler Group, estimated that
the project would cost tens of millions of pounds.
One of the main reasons for large organisations upgrading to
Windows XP is the end of product support for older Microsoft
operating systems, Edwards said.
"Extended support for NT4 runs out in June this year so there is
an impetus to move to a supported platform," he said.
"NT4 is still used in all sorts of places and companies,
especially where the company has tens of thousands of
desktops."
Challenges of a large-scale XP roll-out include ensuring all
standard and bespoke desktop applications are safely migrated and
replacing older PCs that do not work with newer operating systems,
Edwards said.
The HBOS XP roll-out takes place as the bank modernises its
back-office systems. In 2002 HBOS terminated two outsourcing
arrangements with IBM and Xansa to bring control of its IT back
in-house.
HBOS is also committed to standardising its corporate banking
system on Microsoft .net.