Architecture and infrastructure of Grand Central integration platform
Grand Central iPaaS connects core connectors, core banking systems, fintechs, and third parties. It handles data exchange, workflow automation, and real-time communication on Backbase Managed Hosting.Integrations run on platform-level SLAs. Managed Hosting provides high availability, disaster recovery, and operational efficiency for integration workloads.The following diagram shows the flow of interactions between the functional application (in this example, Engagement Banking Platform), Grand Central, and a third-party system (for example, a core banking system):Engagement Banking Platform initiates a request to Grand Central.Azure API Management (APIM) authenticates the request. Upon successful authentication, APIM identifies the appropriate connector and forwards the request to it.The connector performs additional validation where applicable on the request and upon successful validation, transforms and sends the request to the third-party system.The connector receives a response from the third-party system, transforms the response, and sends it back to the Engagement Banking Platform.
Grand Central connectors are fully managed by Backbase’s support team, ensuring they remain available, high performing, and compliant with SLAs. This managed service includes both application-level functionality and secure hosting of the underlying runtime.See [Grand Central Connectors] (connector/marketplace/connectors/core-connectors/overview.mdx) for more information on the key benefits.
Grand Central’s API Management (APIM) is a fully managed platform that enables secure creation, publication, monitoring, and governance of APIs. Acting as a gateway between backend services and API consumers, APIM enforces policies such as authentication, rate limiting, and request transformation.APIM provides the following benefits:
Simplified API lifecycle management with tools for scaling, analytics, and monitoring.
Enhanced security through centralized governance.
Seamless integration across diverse systems while ensuring APIs are discoverable and performant.
Grand Central is responsible for hosting and managing the underlying infrastructure required to run the integration platform. This includes servers, networking, storage, and related components.
Managed Hosting ensures high availability, optimal performance, and disaster recovery of the iPaaS environment through the following:SLA uptime guarantee
Three geographically redundant availability zones.
Active-active-active deployment capable of withstanding outages in two availability zones without service impact.
A disaster recovery region for catastrophic loss scenarios.
Geographic deployment locations
Primary deployment: A full Backbase reference deployment in one region, with high availability across multiple data centers.
Disaster recovery: A secondary region deployment to ensure continuity in case of primary region failure.
The hosting service is designed to be scalable, allowing the iPaaS environment to handle varying workloads and adapt to changing demands without requiring direct intervention from the customer.
Grand Central implements security measures to protect the iPaaS environment and data. This includes access controls, encryption, vulnerability management, and compliance with relevant standards.Grand Central offers a wide array of supported methods for different connectivity scenarios catering for different requirements and security needs:
Azure hosted services via Azure Private Link.
Third-party services on the internet using mTLS/IP allowlists.
On-premise services using secure site-to-site VPNs.
