Pelizzoli: The technology is still way out in the front. The
regulators have a lot on their plates. We can start moving,
as long as we adhere to all the regulations, but the regula-
tions between countries and within some countries will con-
tinue to have a lagging effect. That being said, you are
beginning to see governments understand how sanctions
occur, and they want their own networks within their own
borders.
Those are the types of things that require a full-fledged
payments network that predated the public Internet, to
begin to gain certain new features, functions and capabili-
ties. We are now basically having to redo that pay-
ments-grade network.
Gardner: Robert, the technology is highly capable. We have
a major player like Mastercard interested in solving their
new globalization requirements using cloud. What can help
close the adoption gap? Does hybrid cloud help solve the
logjam?
Christiansen: The regionalization issues are upfront, if not
the number one requirement, as Paolo has been talking
about. I think about South
Korea. We just had a meeting
with the largest banking folks
there. They are planning now
for their adoption of public
cloud, whether its Microsoft
Azure, Amazon Web Services
(AWS) or Google Cloud. Prior
to January 1, 2019, the laws
prohibited public cloud use
for financial services compa-
nies, so things are changing.
So you may see more use of things like OpenShift or Cloud
Foundry’s Pivotal platform, and some overlay that allows
folks to take advantage of that so that you can push down
an appliance, like a piece of equipment, into a specific
territory.
I’m not certain as to the cost that you incur as a result of
adding such an additional local layer. But from a rollout per-
spective, this is an upfront conversation. Most financial
organizations that globalize want to be able to develop and
deploy in one way while also having regional, localized
on-premises services. And they want it to get done as if in a
public cloud. That is happening in multiple regions.
Gardner: Paolo, please tell us more about International
Real-Time Payments. Are you set up specifically to solve
this type of regional-global deployment problem, or is there
a larger mandate? What’s the reason for this organization?
Pelizzoli: Mastercard made an acquisition a number of
years ago of Vocalink. Vocalink did real-time automated
clearing house (ACH) payments for the United Kingdom.
Because it’s nationally critical infrastructure, and it’s bank-
to-bank ACH, we have
extended the capabilities. We
can go through and perform
the same nationally critical
functions for other govern-
ments in other countries.
Most financial organiza-
tions that globalize want
to be able to develop
and deploy in one way
while also have regional,
localized on-premises
services. And they want
to get it done as if in
a public cloud.
There is lot of that kind of
thing going on around the
globe. The strategy seems to
be very focused on making
the compute, network and
storage localized and region-
alized. And that’s going to require technology grounding in
some sort of connectivity across on-premises and public,
while still putting the proper security in place.
Vocalink has now been inte-
grated into Mastercard, and
Real-Time Payments will
extend the ACH, or the instant
check function, alongside the
debit/credit loyalty gift kind of
mechanisms that Mastercard
has been traditionally known for.
I absolutely agree that you
want to develop one way and
then be able to deploy to mul-
tiple locations. As hybrid cloud has arrived, with the advent
of Microsoft Azure Stack and, more recently, AWS’s Out-
posts, it gives you the cloud inside of your data center with
the same capabilities, the same consoles and the same
scripting and automation, etc.
WINTER 2019 | THE DOPPLER | 15