RBA Initiates Core Modernization Design Phase

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has embarked on a modernization initiative aimed at upgrading its technology infrastructure to ensure seamless operation of core infrastructure and applications with minimal interruption. The RBA recently published an approach to market seeking a consultant to validate technology designs and develop an overall infrastructure solution aligned with the bank's current technology stack.

Outlined in documents accompanying the approach to market, the modernization effort, initially announced in December 2023, involves several key components. Firstly, it includes establishing a new co-located data center to replace the existing head office data center, which will be decommissioned as part of the process. Secondly, the initiative entails designing the new core infrastructure to meet or exceed current capabilities in performance, resilience, availability, and security. Finally, the migration of current workloads to this new core infrastructure is a critical aspect of the modernization effort, ensuring continuity of operations while leveraging updated technology and infrastructure.

The requirements for the new core infrastructure highlight the significant challenge facing the designer, emphasizing that all customer applications and core infrastructure services must meet or exceed current capabilities in terms of performance, resilience, availability, and security. Furthermore, the modernized core infrastructure is expected to incorporate features necessary for resilience, security, and observability, recognizing that some of the current infrastructure is "end-of-life and obsolete."

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) currently operates an extensive technology infrastructure, comprising over 420 physical servers running Windows and Red Hat Enterprise Linux virtual machines. Additionally, the RBA's environment includes 7.7 petabytes (PB) of storage, over 700 physical and logical Cisco devices, and 300 other networking units responsible for functions such as load balancing. Various systems are also in place to deliver critical services including DNS, Active Directory, Network Time Protocol, remote access, identity and access management, DHCP, PKI, backup and restoration, monitoring and alerting, as well as archive services.

In response to the need for modernization prompted by a Deloitte review following a November 2022 outage caused by a failed software upgrade, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has initiated a modernization program. The program aims to update and enhance the RBA's technology infrastructure to ensure greater resilience, security, and availability. The design process for this modernization initiative is scheduled to begin in June 2024. The goal is to create a comprehensive and robust infrastructure solution that aligns with the RBA's current technology stack while addressing any existing shortcomings or vulnerabilities identified during the review. This initiative reflects the RBA's commitment to maintaining a stable and reliable technology environment to support its critical functions and operations.