Deploy a highly available SWIFT connectivity solution across multiple Availability Zones. Focus on your core financial services while AWS manages the underlying infrastructure for your SWIFT Alliance Access environment.
Overview
This Guidance enables financial institutions to integrate SWIFT Alliance Access with AWS infrastructure through a secure, cloud-optimized architecture. By leveraging deployment across two Availability Zones and aligning with SWIFT Customer Security Programme (CSP) requirements, it accelerates the transition to modern financial messaging while ensuring operational resilience, enhanced scalability, and robust compliance.
Benefits
Streamline financial messaging operations
Enhance security and compliance
Implement defense-in-depth strategies with private subnets, encrypted communications, and centralized key management. Meet SWIFT CSP requirements while simplifying security management across your financial messaging infrastructure.
Optimize costs with flexible deployment options
Scale your SWIFT Alliance Access environment based on transaction volumes with right-sized compute resources and optional database deployments. Reduce capital expenditure by paying only for the resources you use.
How it works
Alliance Connect Virtual Gold
This architecture diagram shows a standardized environment for connecting to the SWIFT network using Alliance Connect Virtual Gold connectivity.
Download the architecture diagram
Step 1
This architecture operates across two Availability Zones (AZs) for redundancy.
Step 2
Configure Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) with private subnets that meet AWS and SWIFT Customer Security Programme (CSP) security.
Step 3
The Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instance hosts SWIFT Alliance Access (SAA) for SWIFT message processing.
Step 4
The EC2 instance hosts SWIFT Alliance Gateway (SAG) and SWIFTNet Link (SNL) for secure financial transmission..
Step 5
(Optional) Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) operates in active or standby mode, storing configuration and message data for SAA. Note that while customers can use external databases, SWIFT only supports the embedded database.
Step 6
AWS Systems Manager provides secure remote access, eliminating the need for a dedicated jump server.
Step 7
Amazon CloudWatch collects, stores, and monitors logs and metrics from the SWIFT environment.
Step 8
A dual Alliance Connect Virtual EC2 instance, based on Juniper vSRX platform, establishes AWS Virtual Private Network (AWS VPN) connectivity to the SWIFT network.
Step 9
An AWS VPN gateway links the Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) to AWS Direct Connect for reliable, private connectivity.
Step 10
Direct Connect provides private connectivity between AWS and data centers or colocation environments.
Alliance Connect Virtual Silver
This architecture diagram shows a standardized environment for connecting to the SWIFT network using Alliance Connect Virtual Silver connectivity.
Download the architecture diagram
Step 1
This architecture operates across two AZs for redundancy.
Step 2
Configure Amazon VPC with private subnets that meet AWS and SWIFT CSP security.
Step 3
The EC2 instance hosts SAA for SWIFT message processing.
Step 4
The EC2 instance hosts SAG and SNL for secure financial transmission.
Step 5
(Optional) Amazon RDS operates in active or standby mode, storing configuration and message data for SAA. Note that while customers can use external databases, SWIFT only supports the embedded database.
Step 6
Systems Manager provides secure remote access, eliminating the need for a dedicated jump server.
Step 7
CloudWatch collects, stores, and monitors logs and metrics from the SWIFT environment.
Step 8
A dual Alliance Connect Virtual EC2 instance, based on Juniper vSRX platform, establishes AWS VPN connectivity to the SWIFT network.
Step 9
An AWS VPN gateway links the Amazon VPC to Direct Connect for reliable, private connectivity.
Step 9a
An internet gateway allows communication between the Amazon VPC to the SWIFT network over the internet, providing redundancy and failover capability.
Step 10
Direct Connect provides private connectivity between AWS and data centers or colocation environments.
Alliance Connect Virtual Bronze
This architecture diagram shows a standardized environment for connecting to the SWIFT network using Alliance Connect Virtual Bronze connectivity.
Download the architecture diagram
Step 1
This architecture operates across two AZs for redundancy.
Step 2
Configure Amazon VPC with private subnets that meet AWS and SWIFT CSP security.
Step 3
The EC2 instance hosts SAA for SWIFT message processing.
Step 4
The EC2 instance hosts SAG and SNL for secure financial transmission.
Step 5
(Optional) Amazon RDS operates in active or standby mode, storing configuration and message data for SAA. Note that while customers can use external databases, SWIFT only supports the embedded database.
Step 6
Systems Manager provides secure remote access, eliminating the need for a dedicated jump server.
Step 7
CloudWatch collects, stores, and monitors logs and metrics from the SWIFT environment.
Step 8
A dual Alliance Connect Virtual EC2 instance, based on Juniper vSRX platform, establishes AWS VPN connectivity to the SWIFT network.
Step 9
An AWS VPN gateway links the Amazon VPC to Direct Connect for reliable, private connectivity.
Step 9a
An internet gateway allows communication between the Amazon VPC to the SWIFT network over the internet, providing redundancy and failover capability.
Step 10
Direct Connect provides private connectivity between AWS and data centers or colocation environments.