The same holds true for testing equipment and facilities. One solution may be to lease or rent hardware from vendors for testing, analysts suggest. The company sells a rental package for banks that want to test applications off-site. Banks can rent equipment for a minimum six-month term with a renew option. Amdahl ships, installs and maintains the equipment.
Banks also can lease equipment.
Generally, a longer contract term and maintenance fees apply, Stone says. Not Expected To Halt Merger Impending Year 2000 efforts, however, are not expected to impede significantly the rate of mergers this year, sources claim. In fact, as banks falter in their Year 2000 efforts, the rate of mergers is expected to increase, some predict. The bank instead will focus on issues associated with the merger. Joseph Pendleton, senior vice president, alternative delivery planning at CoreStates, speculates the Internet will be important in 1998.