Automated network operations help First Bank deliver better client experiences

As the COVID-19 pandemic magnified the importance of digital channels, demand for First Bank’s online business, commercial, and personal banking services grew. Customers could open checking and savings accounts without coming into the branch. The loan process was streamlined from start to finish. In-store branches were redesigned.

“We wanted to modernize and simplify our data center while strengthening cybersecurity,” says Andrew Miller, assistant vice president, network support at First Bank.

Refreshing its data center infrastructure would enable First Bank to assure the performance and availability of its banking, loans, and wealth management services across channels.

Leaving behind a legacy data center network architecture and inefficient protocols like Spanning Tree would increase agility, freeing IT from manual network operations and speeding deployment of network services.

First Bank also wanted to optimize protection of its digital assets as cybercrime rose sharply during the pandemic.

First Bank has served four generations of clients, helping families save money, own their homes, and pay for college, and helping businesses manage their finances and get funding for growth.

Applications in the data center run with greater efficiency, lower latency, and increased scalability. Servers and virtual machines can be placed anywhere in the network, making it easy to move workloads to meet sudden increases in demand or business continuity requirements.

With the move to permanent remote work, automation is more important than ever. The network team can be confident that the data center network runs as intended with continued assurance. Real-time performance metrics mean that if there’s a problem, resolution is swift.

“Getting away from the command line and using Apstra provides us with a level of management and flexibility we didn’t have before,” says Grant Vosse, senior network analyst at First Bank.

With secure networking that protects users, applications, and infrastructure, First Bank can uphold the digital trust of its clients and maintain regulatory compliance. In regional offices and branches, interactive teller machines, videoconferencing, building controls, and potentially insecure IoT devices are isolated in their own microsegments. 

One of the largest family-owned banks in the U.S., First Bank has steadfastly helped individuals and businesses thrive for more than four generations.