Equitas Optimizes Multi-Cloud Data Costs with Polarin

Client Overview

Company: Equitas Bank
Industry: BFSI
Company Size: 13,473

Revenue: $38.78B
Location: Chennai

Executive Summary

Equitas Bank faced challenges with stable cloud connectivity, high latency, and the need for a single provider for seamless DC-DC and multi-cloud connectivity. Lightstorm's Polarin platform provided a unified solution, enabling multi-cloud connectivity with AWS, Azure, and OCI, along with application-specific IP routing via Lightstorm’s Virtual Router. This resulted in enhanced uptime, reduced latency, quick provisioning, and significant cost savings, ensuring seamless and error-free cloud operations

Challenge

Equitas Bank, a leading financial institution, required seamless and stable cloud connectivity to support its growing digital operations. However, the bank faced multiple connectivity challenges that impacted business efficiency and service reliability.

The Situation That Prompted the Need for a Solution

As Equitas Bank expanded its digital services, it required low-latency, high-uptime connectivity across its data centers and multi-cloud environments (AWS, Azure and Oracle). The bank needed a scalable, reliable network to ensure uninterrupted service delivery for its customers.

Previous Approaches They Had Tried

The bank had previously relied on multiple service providers for data center interconnectivity (DCI) and multi-cloud connectivity. However, this fragmented approach led to inconsistent performance, higher costs, and operational inefficiencies. Additionally, provisioning new connections was slow, impacting agility.

Specific Problems That Needed to Be Solved

• Unstable Cloud Connectivity – Frequent disruptions affected application performance and customer experience.
• High Latency and Downtime Risks – Existing solutions lacked the required SLA commitments, leading to delays in transactions and application response times.
• Lack of a Unified Connectivity Provider – Managing multiple vendors for DC-DC, DC-Cloud, and multi-cloud connectivity created complexity, increased costs, and slowed scalability.

Business Impact of These Challenges

• Service disruptions affected customer experience, leading to potential revenue loss.
• High latency impacted real-time banking transactions, reducing operational efficiency.
• Slow provisioning of new connections delayed digital transformation initiatives, impacting business growth.
• Increased operational costs due to managing multiple providers without an optimized network infrastructure.

To address these critical challenges, Equitas Bank sought a single, scalable, and cost-effective solution to streamline its cloud connectivity and ensure seamless banking operations.

Solution

To address Equitas Bank’s cloud connectivity challenges, Lightstorm deployed a comprehensive hybrid architecture that seamlessly integrated data center (DC), disaster recovery (DR), and multi-cloud connectivity through the Polarin platform. This solution provided high-speed, low-latency, and scalable network connectivity, ensuring superior uptime and performance for business-critical applications.

Specific Products/Services Implemented

• End-to-End Hybrid Architecture with L2 and L3 connectivity in a single solution.
• DC-DR 1G NLD Connectivity for secure and high-speed disaster recovery.
• DC-NDR 1G Metro Connectivity and DR-NDR 1G NLD Connectivity for redundancy and failover support.
• 2x600 Mbps Virtual Routing (VR) from Mumbai (MUM) & Hyderabad (HYD) to optimize application performance.
• Private and Secure Connectivity utilizing integrated services like AWS Direct Connect ensuring private access to cloud, high throughput and performance optimized.
• Direct multi-cloud connectivity from DC (Bangalore) and DR (Hyderabad) to Azure, OCI, and AWS, enabling seamless cloud integration.

Implementation Process & Timeline

The deployment was completed in a streamlined manner, ensuring minimal disruption to the bank’s operations:

1. Assessment & Planning – Lightstorm collaborated closely with Equitas Bank to understand their existing infrastructure and tailor a solution.
2. Seamless Deployment – The hybrid connectivity framework was implemented efficiently across DC, DR, and multi-cloud environments.
3. Testing & Optimization – Rigorous performance testing ensured the solution met latency, uptime, and SLA commitments before full-scale deployment.
4. Go-Live & Support – The solution was integrated into the bank’s network with continuous monitoring and support.

Key Features That Addressed Their Challenges

• Unified Connectivity: A single platform for DC-DC, DC-Cloud, and Multi-cloud connectivity reduced complexity and costs.
• High-Speed & Scalable Network: 1G NLD & Metro Connectivity ensured stable, high-speed data transfers between DC, DR, and NDR.
• Low Latency & High Uptime: Optimized routing with 2x600 Mbps Virtual Router at Mumbai and Hyderabad minimized latency and enhanced network reliability.
• Application-Specific IP Routing: Ensured seamless performance for cloud applications, eliminating downtime risks.
• Quick Provisioning: Rapid deployment reduced time-to-market, enabling the bank to scale operations faster.

Collaboration & Unique Approach

• Close Partnership: Lightstorm worked hand-in-hand with Equitas Bank’s IT team to ensure a smooth transition with minimal disruption.
• Custom-Tailored Architecture: The hybrid solution was designed to align perfectly with the bank’s operational needs and regulatory requirements.
• Innovative Routing & Network Optimization: The use of Lightstorm’s Virtual Router for application-specific routing provided superior performance compared to traditional connectivity solutions.

By leveraging Lightstorm’s advanced DCI & multi-cloud solution, Equitas Bank successfully achieved stable, low-latency, and scalable cloud connectivity, enhancing operational efficiency and customer experience.

Results

By implementing Lightstorm’s DCI & Multi-Cloud solution via the Polarin platform, Equitas Bank achieved significant improvements in connectivity, performance, and cost efficiency. The solution provided a highly stable, low-latency, and scalable network, enabling the bank to enhance its digital services and customer experience.

Key Business Outcomes

Low Latency & High Performance

• 50% reduction in latency, ensuring faster transaction processing and improved application performance.
• Optimized routing via LTC VR minimized network congestion, enhancing responsiveness.

Fast Provisioning & Scalability

• 90% faster provisioning compared to the previous multi-vendor setup.
• Seamless scalability across DC, DR, and multi-cloud environments, allowing for rapid expansion.

Stable Cloud Connectivity & Uptime

• Achieved 99.99% uptime, ensuring uninterrupted banking operations.
• Eliminated network disruptions, significantly enhancing service reliability.

Multi-Cloud Integration & Cost Savings

• Single platform for DC, AWS, Azure, and OCI connectivity, reducing operational complexity and cost by 25%
• 20% cost savings due to optimized bandwidth utilization and reduced infrastructure expenses.
• 20% savings on egress cost charges via connecting using Polarin 

Before & After Comparison

Timeline for Achieving Results

• Immediate improvements in latency and provisioning upon deployment.
• Within 3 months, the bank experienced full-scale stability in cloud connectivity.
• Within 6 months, Equitas Bank realized cost savings and operational efficiencies from vendor consolidation which was up to 30%

Additional Benefits

Enhanced security & compliance – Improved network control and visibility.

Improved customer experience – Faster transaction processing and seamless digital banking services.

Future-ready infrastructure – Scalable architecture supporting future expansion and innovation.

By leveraging Lightstorm’s Polarin platform, Equitas Bank not only resolved its connectivity challenges but also achieved cost efficiency, enhanced scalability, and superior customer service, ensuring long-term business success.

Client Testimonial

"Polarin by Lightstorm solution has simplified our complex hybrid and multi cloud connectivity. We've experienced seamless operations, with complete transparency and uninterrupted service delivery to our customers.”- Mr. Antony Francis, VP- IT Infrastructure, Equitas Small Finance Bank Limited”