ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Technews devider Strengthening RCBC's foundation for next-generation banking

Strengthening RCBC's foundation for next-generation banking

Published Jan 2, 2026 10:21 am

At A Glance

From L-R: RCBC Chief Information Officer John Alabastro, RCBC President and CEO Reggie Cariaso, Digital Edge Philippines President and CEO Vic Barrios, and Threadborne Group Chairman Charlie Rufino during the Ceremonial Signing event.
From L-R: RCBC Chief Information Officer John Alabastro, RCBC President and CEO Reggie Cariaso, Digital Edge Philippines President and CEO Vic Barrios, and Threadborne Group Chairman Charlie Rufino during the Ceremonial Signing event.
The Philippine financial sector is entering a new phase defined by AI adoption, hybrid cloud expansion, rising digital transaction volumes, and heightened cybersecurity and compliance requirements.
As part of its 2026 digital roadmap, RCBC is enhancing operational resilience, expanding high-availability infrastructure, and strengthening compliance across all mission-critical environments. Moving its systems to NARRA1 enables RCBC to better safeguard critical services, support growing digital workloads, and deliver secure, always-on customer experiences amid rising demand.
This move comes at a pivotal time as RCBC reinforces its IT backbone to stay ahead of evolving industry expectations and support the bank’s long-term growth.
“Digital Edge’s operational track record, sustainability-centered engineering expertise, and commitment to security made them the right partner for us,” RCBC Chief Information Officer John Alabastro said “We have selected NARRA1 because it offers both the technical capacity and environmental efficiency needed by a modern, fast-scaling bank like ours.”
Why NARRA1 Is the Strategic Choice for RCBC’s Mission-Critical Operations
NARRA1 offers a future-ready foundation for RCBC’s mission-critical operations. The facility’s Tier 3, carrier-neutral architecture is designed for high availability, while its 100% dual-power redundancy provides strong protection against outages and operational disruption. Its security and privacy controls meet the stringent requirements of the banking sector, and its renewable-energy-powered, energy-efficient design supports RCBC’s sustainability goals.
These combined capabilities ensure that RCBC can scale its production workloads securely, reliably, and sustainably as it accelerates its digital transformation.
“We are seeing a decisive shift in the Philippine financial sector as institutions strengthen their resilience, modernize legacy systems, and move toward hybrid and cloud-ready environments,” said Vic Barrios, Digital Edge Philippines President and CEO. “RCBC’s decision to place its production workloads in NARRA1 reflects this momentum and validates our commitment to providing banking-grade infrastructure built for security, uptime, and high-density performance. We are ready to support RCBC–and the broader financial community–as they advance their digital capabilities and prepare for future growth.”
A Stronger, More Sustainable Foundation for the Financial Sector
Digital Edge’s NARRA1— a TIA-942-C-certified facility powered entirely by renewable energy and recognized with BERDE, IFC EDGE, and LEED Gold certifications—offers one of the most energy-efficient and compliance-ready environments in the region. Engineered with the lowest PUE in the region and built to meet the regulatory and security standards required by banks and other regulated institutions, NARRA1 provides a stable, high-performance foundation for modern financial operations.
For RCBC, collocating in an environmentally efficient, high-resilience data center strengthens its long-term vision of a secure, sustainable digital ecosystem. At the same time, the partnership underscores growing momentum among Philippine financial institutions to modernize their IT environments and migrate to high-density, cloud-ready, and sustainability-driven colocation facilities. RCBC’s move further reinforces NARRA1’s position as a trusted hub for mission-critical workloads, supported by the facility’s regional recognition for energy efficiency and engineering excellence, including the Innovation in Energy Efficiency Award (Southeast Asia) from the W.Media Asia Pacific Cloud & Data Center Awards.
A Shared Vision for 2026 and Beyond
The partnership between RCBC and Digital Edge sets a new benchmark for secure, resilient, and sustainable digital operations in the Philippine financial sector. Together, the two organizations are advancing infrastructure that is equipped to meet today’s digital demands and ready to support the accelerated innovations expected in 2026 and beyond.
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.