---
name: framework-financial-services-reference-architecture-overview
title: Reference architecture overview
description: The IBM Cloud Framework for Financial Services provides three reference architectures that can be used as a basis for meeting the security and regulatory requirements that are defined in the framework. Learn about these reference architectures in the following table.
last-updated: 2024-10-09
---

> ## Documentation Index
> The table of contents for this documentation set is at https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/framework-financial-services?format=markdown
> The index for all IBM Cloud docs is at: https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use these files to discover more information as needed.

# Reference architecture overview
{: #reference-architecture-overview}

The IBM Cloud Framework for Financial Services provides three reference architectures that can be used as a basis for meeting the security and regulatory requirements that are defined in the framework. Learn about these reference architectures in the following table.

| Reference architecture   | Description    |
|--------------- | --------------- |
| [IBM Cloud® Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/framework-financial-services?topic=framework-financial-services-vpc-architecture-about&format=markdown)   | Built by using [IBM Cloud® Virtual Private Cloud](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vpc?topic=vpc-about-vpc&format=markdown#about-vpc), which enables an enterprise to establish its own private cloud-like computing environment on shared public cloud infrastructure. The architecture has options for using one or both of [IBM Cloud® Virtual Servers for Virtual Private Cloud](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/framework-financial-services?topic=framework-financial-services-vpc-architecture-detailed-vsi&format=markdown) and [Red Hat® OpenShift® on IBM Cloud®](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/framework-financial-services?topic=framework-financial-services-vpc-architecture-detailed-openshift&format=markdown)  |
| [IBM Cloud Satellite®](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/framework-financial-services?topic=framework-financial-services-satellite-architecture-about&format=markdown)   | Built by using [IBM Cloud Satellite](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/satellite?format=markdown), so you can create a hybrid environment that brings the scalability and on-demand flexibility of public cloud services to the applications and data that run in your secure private cloud (such as on-premises). |
| [IBM Cloud® for VMware® Regulated Workloads](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/framework-financial-services?topic=framework-financial-services-vmware-overview&format=markdown)  | Built by using [IBM Cloud for VMware Regulated Workloads](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vmwaresolutions?topic=vmwaresolutions-vrw-archi-overview&format=markdown), which is an extension of the VMware vCenter Server® offering. Its design extends and enhances the basic vCenter Server architecture to deliver a secure, high-performance platform. |
{: caption="Reference architectures for the IBM Cloud for Financial Services" caption-side="top"}