UAE, Oman, Sri Lanka, the UK, the US and a number of African nations.
Habib Bank's information technology is managed from Dubai. In 1995, having run its operations initially
on localized PCs, the bank installed a TCP/IP-based WAN, with a Sun/Sybase platform as the back end. Sun
servers have been steadily introduced in the bank's branches. Today they run in five countries; an HA
Enterprise 6000 has recently been installed in the UAE.
Back in 1995, however, Habib Bank was eager to develop a streamlined banking system, but had reservations
about how the solution should be handled at the front end.
"There were many client-server tools available, but all of them seemed to require fatter and fatter
clients," says Reza Habib, cheif executive/vice president Habib Bank AG. "If we were to make use of
these tools, we would have to invest in all those fat clients, and given the pace of change, they would
be outdated before our banking solution was even ready. So we asked ourselves: how can we maintain all
our PCs - starting with the most ancient 286s - and have them co-exist in one big system?"
The perfect match
Habib and his team decided there was only one answer: they would write their own object-based language,
which would in turn enable them to write the flexible banking application they had in mind. So some six
months prior to Java's announcement, they set to work on a task that was ultimately to bring them much
closer to Sun.
Unaware of developments in California, the bank created a platform-independent language called hPLUS and,
using that language, set about creating a modular banking package, which goes by the same name. Towards
the end of last year, however, they discovered Java, and were amazed to find how closely it resembled the
product they had written themselves.
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"We couldn't beliebe what we were seeing." says Habib. "Our language is based on a microkernel,
which matches data from the back end with instructions - op-code - and delivers it to the front
end where it explodes and runs. So, our kernel is analogous to the Java virtual machine, and the
forms we write at the back end are similar to Java applets."
A break with tradition
There was only one thing to do: port hPLUS to Java. "We looked at Java and fell in love with it
- it was just the tool we needed," Habib says. "It is a really elegant language. And the
advantage for us in the future is that we won't have to think about enhancing our own language.
Java has become a standard, so Sun will take care of that."
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allowed us to do away with interbranch reconciliation, so the more branches you have,
the bigger the benefits of the package."
"Using hPLUS, you can do transactions involving multiple currencies, with multiple donors and
recipients, across different time zones, without the need for reconciliation," he adds.
The Java version of hPLUS has now been piloted in 11 branches across the UAE and Oman, using an
Enterprise 4000 as the host. The only requirement at the client end is the Java-enabled browser.
"In the future we will be able to run hPLUS over either our intranet or the Internet," Habib says.
"So long as you have a browser, the front end platform can vary. Sun's JavaStation and its
picoJava chips are widening the options still further to smartphones and handkeld devices.
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hPLUS is among the world's first portable Java-based banking solutions. Based on a core of 55
modules, the package offers around 1,000 options, which can be used to deliver home and Internet
banking services or run as a full-blown banking system.
Habib's system differs in philosophy from many traditional banking packages. Rather than using a
four-stage processing model, which means transactions are not posted on the system for at least 24
hours, hPLUS is based on a two-stage process, updating records as transactions take place.
"Transactions are committed at both ends simultaneously, so everything is visible on the system,
and authorisation processes are carried out subsequently at the core," says Habib. "That has
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hPLUS is fully fledged Java application, so you will be able to run it on almost anything."
Although always intended for the bank's internal use, Habib now believes the package could have
wider appeal: "It is begining to look very commercial. Since we are a niche player, we don't
compete with major banks, so it would be quite possible for us to market it to them."
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