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Lloyds TSB gives blades to traders

Bank equips trading floor with blade PCs

Lloyds TSB has equipped its new trading floor with 255 blade workstations to make maintenance easier and improve the working environment for staff.

Blade PCs are computers contained in thin, modular circuit cards stored centrally on a server rack. In contrast to thin clients, blades include all the components found in a desktop PC.

Lloyds TSB IT director Tom Walker says the main aim of the project is to improve manageability through centralised maintenance, bolster security and to meet mounting compliance requirements.

‘When building a new trading floor we had two choices: we could have workstations under the desk with all the security and manageability problems that brings, or use blade PCs,’ said Walker.

Traders use an average of four screens apiece, each with its own computer displaying high-resolution images and requiring an average of 1.5KW to power.

‘Running remote computers is not new, but until now the technology has not been there to power such intense graphics without connecting screens to the computer,’ said Walker.

The HP machines have reduced power use on the trading floor, although this was not a primary business goal of the project, according to Walker.

‘The overall energy bill does not necessarily go down because we still have to cool the computers in the computer room,’ he said.

‘More importantly, the blade stations have created a cooler and quieter working environment for traders.’

IDC analyst Gene Kim likens the general move towards blade workstations to a religious conversion.

‘Computer power at each terminal is becoming untenable because of compliance issues and operational risk,’ he said.

‘Blade workstations can take the risk factors out of high-risk business areas because technology has advanced to the point where the CPU does not need to sit with the interface device.’

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