ACI Worldwide and Cognizant Validate Card Processing on AWS at Scale

Author : John Brown | Published On : 30 Sep 2026

ACI Worldwide and Cognizant have completed performance testing of ACI’s BASE24-eps card processing platform on Amazon Web Services (AWS), demonstrating its ability to handle high transaction volumes in a cloud environment. The testing processed more than 4.6 million transactions without a failure and sustained more than twice the target transaction load for 30 minutes, highlighting the potential of cloud-based card processing for financial institutions.

The companies conducted the testing under simulated point-of-sale conditions to evaluate how BASE24-eps performs when deployed on managed AWS services. The results provide banks with performance data as they consider moving existing card processing infrastructure to the cloud.

BASE24-eps Handles More Than Double Its Target Load

During the performance test, BASE24-eps sustained more than double its target transaction load for 30 consecutive minutes without recording a failed transaction. Across the complete testing period, the platform processed more than 4.6 million transactions with zero failures.

The test focused on a critical requirement for banks: maintaining reliable card transaction processing when transaction volumes increase sharply.

Card payment systems must support demand fluctuations caused by events such as seasonal shopping periods, payroll cycles, and other periods of elevated transaction activity. Testing the platform beyond its target load provided an indication of how it could respond to higher volumes in a cloud environment.

Cognizant Deploys BASE24-eps on AWS

Cognizant managed the testing program from architecture design through environment provisioning and deployment. The company deployed BASE24-eps within a non-production AWS environment using an AWS account operated by ACI Worldwide.

The testing environment used Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) and Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) for PostgreSQL. The companies also used OpenTelemetry for observability and Amazon CloudWatch to monitor system performance.

This setup allowed teams to track transaction activity, system health, and throughput while the platform processed the simulated payment workload.

Cognizant also automated installation and deployment, reducing the manual work required to establish BASE24-eps in the AWS environment.

Cloud Infrastructure Supports Payment Processing

The test demonstrates how existing payment software can operate using managed cloud infrastructure rather than requiring financial institutions to replace established systems with entirely new platforms.

BASE24-eps is a foundational component of ACI’s card acquiring and issuing solutions. The platform already supports card payment processing for financial institutions worldwide.

By deploying the existing platform on AWS, the companies evaluated whether banks could take a cloud migration approach while continuing to use familiar card processing technology.

For financial institutions, cloud adoption can provide greater flexibility when transaction volumes change. Instead of maintaining physical infrastructure designed around peak demand, organizations can use cloud resources as part of a broader modernization strategy.

Testing Focuses on Scalability and Reliability

Payment processing requires consistent performance because even short disruptions can affect customers, merchants, and financial institutions.

The BASE24-eps test therefore focused on sustained transaction processing rather than a short-duration performance spike. The system handled more than twice its target transaction load for 30 minutes without a failed transaction.

The use of real-time observability also allowed the teams to monitor system behavior during the test. OpenTelemetry instrumentation and Amazon CloudWatch provided visibility into transaction flow, system health, and throughput.

These capabilities can help technology teams understand how payment infrastructure responds as transaction demand increases.

Automated Deployment Simplifies Cloud Adoption

Cognizant automated the installation and deployment process as part of the testing program. This reduced the manual effort involved in establishing BASE24-eps within the AWS environment.

Automated deployment can be particularly relevant for financial institutions that need repeatable processes when creating and managing technology environments.

The approach also demonstrates how established payment platforms can be deployed using cloud infrastructure without requiring a complete redevelopment of the underlying application.

For banks evaluating modernization projects, this can provide another path between traditional on-premises infrastructure and fully rebuilt cloud-native payment systems.

Production Deployment Requires Additional Testing

While the results demonstrate the performance of BASE24-eps in a non-production AWS environment, ACI and Cognizant emphasized that production deployment would require additional work.

Financial institutions would need to conduct further testing around availability-zone resilience, failover, disaster recovery, security hardening, and other nonfunctional requirements. Payment network certification would also be required before a production implementation.

This distinction is important because the latest test addressed a specific technical question: whether BASE24-eps could be deployed on AWS using managed services and sustain its target transaction workload.

The companies have not presented the performance test as a complete production-readiness certification.

Supporting Banking Cloud Modernization

Banks continue to evaluate cloud technologies as they look for ways to increase infrastructure flexibility, manage transaction growth, and modernize payment operations.

The ACI and Cognizant testing provides a performance reference for organizations considering moving established card processing applications to AWS.

Instead of requiring banks to immediately replace their existing card processing platforms, the approach demonstrates how established technology can be deployed on managed cloud services.

The results may also help financial institutions evaluate modernization strategies based on measurable performance rather than relying solely on assumptions about cloud scalability.

A Broader Payments Modernization Strategy

The AWS testing comes as ACI Worldwide continues expanding its payments modernization portfolio. The company has also been developing ACI Connetic, its cloud-native payments platform, which brings together payment processing, orchestration, fraud prevention, and payments intelligence.

ACI has recently expanded ACI Connetic with additional capabilities for financial messaging and payments orchestrated through Swift’s ledger. The company has also announced plans to add microservices-based card switching technology through its acquisition of Cranium Ventures.

The combination of established payment platforms and cloud-native capabilities reflects the broader shift toward modernizing banking infrastructure while maintaining the reliability required for high-volume financial transactions.

Demonstrating Cloud Performance for Card Payments

The joint testing by ACI Worldwide and Cognizant shows that BASE24-eps can sustain significant transaction volumes when deployed on AWS infrastructure.

Processing more than 4.6 million transactions without a failure and maintaining more than twice the target load for 30 minutes provides performance evidence for banks exploring cloud-based card processing.

However, production implementation would still require additional resilience, security, recovery, certification, and nonfunctional testing.

As financial institutions continue modernizing their payment infrastructure, performance testing such as this can help technology teams evaluate how established card processing systems can operate alongside modern cloud environments.

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