Willamette Valley Bank based in Oregon has selected Comcast Business (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Internet solutions and software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) as the connectivity backbone for new customer-facing digital banking services, as well as to support a future migration to the cloud and improve network reliability.
Willamette Valley Bank deployed Comcast's business services at 12 of its 19 locations, including Ethernet Dedicated Internet over fiber to five sites; Business Internet to nine sites; and Ethernet Network Service over fiber to the bank's headquarters and four additional bank branches, tying the core together with the ActiveCore SD-WAN.
"We're now seen as a trendsetter across the industry following our SD-WAN installation, because many financial institutions don't have this kind of network yet," said John Clancy, AVP of Information Technology for Willamette Valley Bank. "We feel like we're several steps ahead of the competition now, and I get calls from other banks all the time, wanting to know more about our Internet provider and services we use."
All branch employees can now connect to the core processing platform that runs all the branches' financial applications at once via SD-WAN. It has allowed the bank to plan future upgrades to its customer-facing applications, including live, real-time access to account services and balances via online banking, which has already launched.
"With future plans for additional customer-side transformations as well as a migration to a full cloud-based solution in 2020 to provide enhanced security, Willamette Valley Bank saw a critical need to modernize its network infrastructure," said Mark Meyers, enterprise sales director for Comcast Business. "With the flexibility to scale for continued expansion, Comcast Business SD-WAN is the ideal solution for a growing financial institution because of its inherent visibility and high bandwidth."