Presenting a Model to Reduce E-Banking Services Using Cloud Computing Leila Boti 1*, Seyyed Mohsen Hashemi 2, Mehdi Afzali 3 1 MSc student, Department of Computer Engineering, Zanjan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Zanjan, Iran 2 Assistant Professor, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran 3 Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Engineering, Zanjan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Zanjan, Iran Abstract *Corresponding Author's E-mail: leila.boti.aui@gmail.com Banking today is one of the industries that people have interaction daily. And this industry is always in changes and improves. Since opening of first banks and use of pencil and paper until now that computer dominates all of this industry, and it faces several of challenges. Among the challenges we can mention to reduce the cost of services, increase the business scale, attract and retain the customers, diversified portfolio of services, being available 24/7 and etc. IT infrastructures are important in banking and they can limit banks so they need to use an unlimited IT source to get over with it. We recommend Cloud computing. Keywords: Cloud Computing, E-Banking Functions, Reduce E-Banking Costs, IT infrastructure. 1. Introduction People today are using different kind of Medias for different kind of proposes. They like to do everything in everywhere by only pressing a button. In other hand, banks like to keep their customers satisfied. They need to have more flexibility in providing services to their customers in order to keep them satisfied. E-Banking Services provided by banks have 1040
Vol. 3(8), Jul, 2013, Special Number, pp. 1028-1039, ISSN: 2305-0543 variety, in fact each bank according to the number of customers, banking revenue and also Investment in E-Banking section have different type of E-Banking. E-Banking services could be provided by various Medias like Internet, Cell-phone, TV, Land-phone, SMS, GPRS, ATM and etc. the big advantage point for banks is to be available 24X7 for customers. IT infrastructure for banks is really important. They need to keep them updated every year and provide maintains for them which consequently will cost banks huge amount of money. They need human resources and new Hardware, Software and Network equipments to keep IT infrastructure updated all the time and after a while this equipments will be useless because IT world is changing every day. Having a Technology that could provide unlimited IT power, flexibility and performance for banks seems to be necessary. Cloud Computing can provide this. Many banks in Western countries are currently using cloud computing because they found it very useful. Bank managers can immediately increase or decrease the IT power for their bossiness and they only need to pay for what they use. 2. Cloud Computing Clouds, like mainframes, servers and personal computers, are only platforms for running applications. But clouds are far speedier, more powerful, flexible and accessible than any previous computing platform [1]. In its simplest definition, cloud computing is providing Storage and Computing power as a Service through a third party Media such as internet. Use of these services are fully scalable and may increase or decrease in the shortest time. Nowadays cloud computing in many industries, including the banking industry due to the potential for high reliability and also reduce costs for industry leaders are interested [6]. Industries can have IT infrastructure as a Service without being worry about maintains, update or performance. Cloud Computing has different types, in follow we will mention them [2]. 1041
2.1. Public Cloud: Public Cloud is Storage and Computing as a Service provided by a third party (Public Cloud Provider) company. Public Cloud customers can select the quality, performance level and the time of Public Cloud Service [2, 4]. 2.2. Private Cloud: Private Cloud is having Storage and Computing as a Service for a customer using private and dedicated IT infrastructure. in other hand, a private cloud implementation aims to avoid many of the objections regarding cloud computing security. Because a private cloud setup is implemented safely within the corporate firewall, a private cloud provides more control over the company's data, and it ensures security, albeit with greater potential risk for data loss due to natural disaster [10, 4]. 2.3. Hybrid Cloud: Hybrid Cloud is having both Private and Public Cloud at the same time. Hybrid cloud computing is an architectural approach that enables you to combine the best of both the private and public clouds. Private cloud provides control, regulatory compliance, cost management and security. Public cloud can offer economic efficiency, flexible capacity and disaster recovery. But with careful planning and the right tools, it's possible to scale your private cloud into the public cloud and stay in control [3]. Exhibit 1: Cloud Service and Deployment Models [7] 1042
Vol. 3(8), Jul, 2013, Special Number, pp. 1028-1039, ISSN: 2305-0543 When a bank moves into cloud computing, there are two primary challenges that must be addressed: Security. The confidentiality and security of financial and personal data and missioncritical applications is paramount. Banks cannot afford the risk of a security breach. Regulatory and compliance. Many banking regulators require that financial data for banking customers stay in their home country. Certain compliance regulations require that data not be intermixed with other data, such as on shared servers or databases. As a result, banks must have a clear understanding of where their data resides in the cloud. Financial institutions must select the right service, deployment, and operating models to address security and compliance concerns. In the initial phases of cloud computing adoption, it is expected that banks will own and operate the cloud themselves with service providers taking increasing ownership and control of the cloud infrastructure as cloud computing matures and more rigorous controls become available. Exhibit 2: Cloud Service Delivery Models 1043
3. The new model proposed We will present a new model to reduce E-Banking costs for both customers and Banks. Model is based on Hybrid Cloud. Our Hybrid Cloud contains a Public Cloud and a Private Cloud. There is no need for bank to worry about their IT infrastructure because a third party(cloud Provider) will take care about that so banks can focus on their main business. In additional, customer can use their bank everywhere and every time and also they can customize their banking portal [4, 5]. Our model can use both Public and Private cloud together or one at the time so it will have more reliability [2]. Every part of model has Cell Classification in order to be able to fix as soon as possible. The overall shape of the model shall be as Fig 1. Figure 1: A New Model to Reduce E-Banking Costs 1044
Vol. 3(8), Jul, 2013, Special Number, pp. 1028-1039, ISSN: 2305-0543 Model contains 5 main parts: Public Cloud Private Cloud E-Banking Service Provider Backup Unit Management Unit Model's Public Cloud Public Cloud of the model has two main parts. 3.1.1. Computing Unit: will be provided by a third party company and it will only present Computing power for model in a case that Private cloud is down or needs more Computing power. In order to secure Banking Database, no data will be presented on Public cloud. This unit among Private Cloud computing unit will provide Computing Power for E-Banking Service Provider [2]. 3.1.2. Banking Website: In a case that Private Cloud is down or banking website on Private Cloud is not functioning, Banks can use this as a backup for their Banking website [4]. 3.2. Model's Private Cloud Private Cloud of the model has three main parts. 3.2.1. Computing Unit Contains at least a CPU 1, a RAM 2 and a Controller in order to dispatch job if more CPUs present in Private Cloud. Bank can use their current Computing Hardware in 1 Central Processing Unit 2 Random Access Memory 1045
this unit to improve the performance. This unit among Public Cloud computing unit will provide Computing Power for E-Banking Service Provider [5]. 3.2.2. Banking Website Main banking website will be design by Software developers and can be test on public cloud to determine maximum load of customers that it can handle in a moment. This unit has a backup directly in public cloud. 3.2.3. Storage Unit Storage Unit contains main Banking database. It will be secure by a Firewall to avoid unauthorized access. Database is using SSD 3 hard disk with sharing technology and will be backed up frequently in Backup unit to avoid any data-losing circumstances. Every hard disk contains all of the data and can be replaced in shortest time [9]. 3.3. E-Banking Service Provider E-Banking Service Provider will receive request from Banking Website, calculate customer request using computing power from Private or/and Public Cloud and send result back to Banking Website to show to customer. This unit actually functions like a DBMS 4 for a Database. 3.4. Backup Unit In order to have a backup of daily changes in database, logs and activities Bank managers can use this unit to have a backup every minute. 3.5. Management Unit This unit will be access directly by bank managers, this is actually software that can manage level of computing performance from Public Cloud, backup period and 3 Solid State Drive 1046
Vol. 3(8), Jul, 2013, Special Number, pp. 1028-1039, ISSN: 2305-0543 default actions. For instance, a manager can set that after 1000 customer E-Banking Service Provider use Public Cloud Computing unit for giving service to customer number 1001. This software could be web-based software or an application. Exhibit 3: The Best Suited Areas for the Cloud [7] 4. Disaster Recovery In The Model Since our model use two different types of cloud and also we can have a nonclouded backup form database, our model have Disaster recovery. When a cloud is down model can use another cloud and also, if parts of a cloud stop working but not the whole cloud, model can use only that part from another cloud. For example, if computing unit in private cloud is down, model can use public cloud computing unit [6, 7, and 8]. 4 Database management Software 1047
5. Move To Our Model Presentation of our model has five steps: Preliminary analysis of the current system and identify the transfer functions to the cloud. Provide a general model for bank. Run an incremental process model and integration. Test functions transferred to the cloud. Normal operation of the old model with the functions transferred to the cloud. 1. Preliminary analysis of the current system and identify the transfer functions to the cloud: In first step we will analyze the whole current model for determining banking function which could be move to our model. We also will test and analyze current model hardware in order to use it as a private cloud for new model. 2. Provide a general model for bank: Base on first step information; in this step we will design a model based on Hybrid cloud with close co-operation with bank manager and using current computing hardware. 3. Run an incremental process model and integration: In this step we will function-classification all of banking services and move them one by one to our new model in an incremental process. 4. Test functions transferred to the cloud: 1048
Vol. 3(8), Jul, 2013, Special Number, pp. 1028-1039, ISSN: 2305-0543 After one function moved to the cloud, we will test it by Public cloud to determine any problem. If any of this function has any problem we can go back to step one to analyze it again. 5. Normal operation of the old model with the functions transferred to the cloud: In this step, we will check all of banking function moved to the cloud and also we will determine max load for model. Conclusion Cloud computing have this potential to carry Banking functions. Hybrid cloud can provide flexibility for banking. A bank by using our model can provide a new virtual branch so quick because IT infrastructure is already configured and ready. Human recourses used by bank for maintain IT infrastructure can now use in another position to improve performance. New model can adopt with old and new functions, it is available 24X7 and customers can customize their portal. Hybrid cloud can provide a Self Service Portal in order to increase flexibility for presenting services to the customers. References [1] Microsoft Cloud Computing and Sustainability "The Environmental Benefits of Moving to the Cloud", Accenture, Improving Service and Reducing Costs with Cloud Computing, 2010 WSP Environment & Energy, 2010. [2] A. Huth and J. Cebula, "The Basics of Cloud Computing", Carnegie Mellon University. Produced for US- CERT, a government organization, 2011. [3] Build a cloud everything you need for an Open Stack cloud, http://www.ubuntu.com/cloud/privatecloud/hybrid-cloud, 2013. [4] Microsoft Cloud Computing and Sustainability "Banking on the Cloud", Accenture, Cloud Computing, 2010 WSP Environment & Energy, 2010. [5] Banks consider cloud computing to improve efficiency, cut costs, Pria Nai, 2010 1049
[6] S. Khoshnevis and F. Rabeifar, "Toward Knowledge Management as a Service in Cloud-Based Environments", International journal of mechatronics, electrical and computer technology, Vol.2 (4), pp. 88-110, Jul. 2012. [7] S. Sriram, W. Sullivan and D. Wilson, "Rosemont, Cloud Computing in Banking", 2011 [8] Kurt Salmon, Improving Service and Reducing Costs with Cloud Computing, 2011 [9] Olga Luštšik, can E-banking services be profit it able?, 2004 1050