LIGHTING
THE FLAME OF TALENT
Rabobank opens
Green Data Centre
in the Netherlands
Global
Rabobank's fïrst-ever R&R talent programme,
called the 'Power of Connection', took place
in the Netherlands during the second week
of November 2010. The week was brought
to a close in Amsterdam's Olympic Stadium
by Berry Marttin, Rabobank Executive Board
member, who lit an Olympic torch as a sym-
bol of the 'flame of talent' across Rabobank,
in front of participants from RI's global Rural
Retail businesses and special guests. The
moment signalled the end of a busy week
of activities, which included guided tours
to Rabobank farming clients, visits to local
Rabobank member banks, an evening around
a fire in a tepee, feedback sessions, presen-
tations by FAR research analysts, and a team
building banking game.
The aim of the programme is to identify
talent from across the R&R businesses that
have the potential to become Management
Team members, and to make sure Rabobank
makes the most of that leadership talent. Berry
Marttin: 'The programme is aimed at showing
the participants that they are part of a global
organisation, with shared values and goals.
During the week in November, participants
had the chance to take a close look at our
R&R business in the Netherlands, and our aim
was for them to take the cooperative values
backto other parts of the bank. Additionally,
by bringing these young people together
from right across the globe, we created a very
strong sense of personal connection with the
rest of the bank."
Rabobank has opened one of
the world's greenest data centres
in Boxtel, the Netherlands.
The data centre, which was
constructed using sustainable
architecture and technology,
also utilises a wealth of green
features to lower energy con-
sumption and conserve heat.
The centre is powered by wind
energy, while waste heat and
solar cells are currently being
investigated to see if they
can contribute to an efficiënt
energy management system.
The decision to house the data
centre in Boxtel was taken
on the basis of a number of
criteria, including security and
the new centre's proximity
to Rabobank's current data
centre, to ensure the centres
could back each other up. Such
systems - known as the Twin
Centre Concept - lower risk and
ensure that the daily processing
of millions of electronic transac-
tions for Rabobank (and its part
ners) take place smoothly.
The server park, made up of
around 1,000 servers, is cur
rently being migrated to the
new centre. To ensure that
global business applications
are up and running during
business hours, the migration has
taken place during 25 specially
planned migration weekends.
All IT departments are involved,
with around 500 employees
working hard to ensure the pro
ject will be a complete success.
For more information see:
http://sharepoint2007.
eu.rabonet.com/sites/ZDM/
ISSUE 26 JANUARV RI WORLD
