National Bank of Egypt Strengthens ResilienceAcross Sites with IBM Aspera Disaster Recovery Capabilities
IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a new collaboration with the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) and TECH-HUB, an IBM business partner, to strengthen the bank's disaster recovery (DR) capabilities through the deployment of a scalable, application-level replication framework leveraging IBM Aspera FASP®️ technology to deliver latency-independent,
high-speed replication across geographies.
IBM Aspera helped redesign the bank's disaster recovery approach through a high-performance replication architecture tailored to evolving infrastructure needs and growing data volumes. Deployed across three geographically distributed data centers, the solution enables secure, reliable, high-speed replication of critical applications while enhancing operational visibility and control. It also supports configurable resilience strategies to maintain uninterrupted data flows and continuous operations across regions.
As part of the collaboration, NBE uses IBM Aspera to securely and rapidly transfer large volumes of critical application data between sites, ensuring consistent, predictable performance regardless of network conditions. The solution scales efficiently with growing data volumes, accelerating replication cycles while minimizing impact on existing infrastructure. This enables the bank to meet strict recovery time and recovery point objectives, strengthening resilience, enhancing data protection, and supporting regulatory compliance through secure, auditable, end-to-end encrypted data transfers.
The results are already delivering measurable impact. NBE has achieved reliable multisite replication and executed disaster recovery drills with greater speed and confidence. Data movement performance improved by up to 10x, while disaster recovery drill completion time was reduced by 88% - from two hours to just 15 minutes. The bank also benefits from enhanced application-level visibility, enabling more precise and proactive management of disaster recovery processes.
This deployment represents one of the region's most advanced implementations of application-aware, multisite data replication within the banking sector, offering a flexible and scalable alternative to traditional storage-based replication approaches and setting a new benchmark for large-scale resilience and business continuity. Over time, the solution establishes a robust foundation that supports regulatory compliance, operational efficiency, and long-term growth.
Yehia Abou Elfotouh, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, National Bank of Egypt, said: "Resilience is central to how the National Bank of Egypt continues to evolve its digital ecosystem. Our
collaboration with IBM marks a meaningful step forward in strengthening our disaster recovery capabilities, allowing us to operate with greater agility,
control, and reliability. This initiative supports our broader commitment to delivering secure, seamless banking services while reinforcing our readiness to support Egypt's growing financial sector."
Marwa Abbas, General Manager, IBM North East Africa, said:
"As financial institutions continue to expand their digital operations, resilient disaster recovery is no longer optional, it is a business imperative.
This collaboration with the National Bank of Egypt reflects a shared commitment to building secure, scalable infrastructures that can adapt to complexity while ensuring continuity of service. By combining IBM technologies with deep
industry expertise, we are helping NBE take a more proactive approach to
resilience supporting confidence today and sustainable growth for the future."
TECH-HUB, an IBM business partner, played a key role in the end‑to‑end delivery of the project, leading discovery, architecture design, deployment across all three sites, integration, testing, and knowledge transfer. The new framework marks a shift from traditional storage-based replication toward a more advanced, application-aware model, offering greater flexibility, control, and resilience across critical banking systems.
Ayman El Hossainy, CEO, TECH-HUB, said: "This project with the National Bank of Egypt represents an important milestone in enhancing the
resilience of large‑scale
financial systems. By deploying IBM Aspera, we enabled faster, more reliable data movement between sites, supporting business continuity and operational preparedness. We are proud to work closely with IBM to support NBE's digital transformation journey."
This collaboration reinforces IBM's commitment to enabling secure, scalable, and resilient digital infrastructure for financial institutions. Through its technology and expertise, IBM continues to support organizations in strengthening operational resilience, advancing
digital transformation, and building systems designed to adapt to evolving business and regulatory demands, with IBM Aspera serving as a key enabler of high-performance and scalable disaster recovery capabilities.