RBS builds tech innovation centre on Red Hat

RBS has built a new Open Experience centre using Red Hat's mobile and web-scale container application platforms to help grow innovation in the firm.

The Open Experience centre, based in Edinburgh, allows the bank to build new applications and services for both its internal teams and its customers, helping the company foster a more collaborative environment between staff, businesses and its customers.

Using Red Hat's OpenShift platform allows developers create, host and scale applications faster than before, meaning they can be pushed through to testing quicker.

Because its multi-language, container and Kubernetes-based architecture automates the provisioning, management and scaling of applications, RBS’s developers are able to concentrate on making the applications as robust and relevant they can be now and for the future.

The use of Red Hat's mobile platform means the apps can be created with mobile and security in mind, rather than both being an afterthought

Richard Crook, head of innovation engineering, Royal Bank of Scotland said: "We are pleased to be collaborating with Red Hat to provide an innovation platform for our innovation engineers. The use of Red Hat Mobile Application Platform and OpenShift Enterprise enables us to maximize the chances of our best ideas reaching the hands of our customers.”

RBS is working with other fintech businesses to expand its offering too, coming up with ideas and pushing them through customer pilots to ensure they're fit for end users.

“Innovation and community have long been hallmarks of open source, and we have seen firsthand the power of creating technology the open source way,” Craig Muzilla, senior vice president of the Application Platforms Business Group at Red Hat said.

“We laud Royal Bank of Scotland's commitment to creating an open environment where innovation can thrive, and are honored to play a part in helping launch the next generation of ideas into the marketplace.”