MessagePlus/Open User Group Meeting with Deutsche Bank

On June 18^th the first MessagePlus/Open (MPO) user group meeting took place in Frankfurt, Germany, hosted by Deutsche Bank. Participants from several customers discussed MPO implementations in Germany, Italy, and Spain and were informed about new functions and options of the product directly by Intercope developers. I

n the first session Jens Huser, head of development with INTERCOPE, presented the detailed architecture and functions of MPO Version 4 (MPO V4) compared with MPO version 1 (MPO V1). Major enhancements described by Jens included the Web client, deployment of relational databases, XML based message processing, Web services, programmable message workflows and highly customizable user interfaces enabling new deployment options of the product. In addition Jens stated that INTERCOPE has no plans to retire MPO V1, but that this version which is in use at many large customers will continue to be supported.

Dirk Jahn from IBM explained that his company has been working closely together with INTERCOPE for more than 20 years and has successfully sold MPO throughout the world to some 300 major customers. Dirk said that MPO is part of the IBM Content Management Portfolio and tightly integrated with IBM Content Manager and FileNet and concluded that MPO is the solution provided by IBM whenever automated processing of fax images is a customer requirement.

Stefan Brey, head of Messaging Operations & Regulatory Filtering with Deutsche Bank gave an impressive insight into the SWIFT infrastructure used by his company and Oliver Mauder explained the importance of MessagePlus/Open within this critical environment processing all financial messages which cannot be forwarded through the SWIFT network.

Patrick Lenz from Card Process showed how his company has completely automated former paper business processes handling credit card applications, changes, blockings and further transactions using MPO with an integrated OCR component. Received facsimiles are automatically split, transformed into structured business transactions in XML notation and forwarded to a workflow application.

Riccardo Ronti gave a vivid presentation about the implementation of MPO with Vodafone in Italy. A complex setup of three large legacy systems has been replaced by a unified MPO architecture in which the number of servers was reduced from 22 to 4 and the number of fax channels from more than 1,000 to 350. In addition he gave some insight into the MPO deployment with the oldest bank in the world, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena.

Marga Perez Boada gave an overview about the usage of MPO in Spain in several large companies such as Bankia, Mutua Madrileña and Schneider Electric.

Further presentations covered results of an MPO customer survey, migration options from MPO V1 to MPO V4, Fax over IP, and a new Web based support interface allowing customer to track online the status of support cases.

The whole event was highly professionally organized by Deutsche Bank in an impressive environment with excellent service and delicious food served during the breaks and surely will be kept in mind as an extraordinary experience by all participants.

Many thanks to Stefan Brey, Arnab Guha, and Oliver Mauder from Deutsche Bank for their great hospitality in an amazing location!