| Backbone TV |
NEW Geoweb video
|
|
|
| Focus On Security |
October 27, 2006 |
Businesses can take advantage of Internet technologies without sacrificing performance or security
Business continuity plans have long been in place at many companies, but in the past, these have often focused on threat avoidance. New realities and challenges, however, have made it clear that this approach will no longer suffice. To thrive, companies now need to make sure that they are capable of surviving the unexpected.
That means adopting best-practice business continuity and disaster recovery plans, in order to avoid financial loss, customer dissatisfaction and a potentially disastrous loss of reputation.
Internet-based systems, again an increasingly important component of modern business processes, are a good example of this need for reliability and security. However, many companies are still concerned about the Internet’s ability to handle critical corporate traffic. Allstream’s Business IP service has solved that problem by marrying the flexibility and resilience of Internet (IP) technology with the business-class performance and security of a Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network.
MPLS enables companies to prioritize some business applications over others on the network, ensuring faster and more reliable communication while delivering the price and performance benefits of Internet-based protocols.
Furthermore, since IP was designed with redundancy in mind, a Business IP network is able to protect business services against everything from natural disasters through to routine maintenance by ensuring that if one part of the network becomes unavailable, traffic can be simply sent via another route.
Continuity options
IP-based networks with MPLS capabilities excel at carrying voice and data traffic. Companies can take advantage of the network’s built-in resilience to ensure the availability of both application services and voice communications. Because IP-based networks can be configured to deliver data to any device, it becomes possible for company employees to relocate very quickly in the event of a particular location becoming unavailable.
For example, in an IP-enabled environment, if an employee needs to relocate to Vancouver for a few days, they can log onto a colleague’s IP phone and access all of their messages and presets, all with the convenience of using their own number and extension. The phone is no longer tied to a single location.
Just as individual employees can enjoy uninterrupted services, so companies can enjoy the same service continuity on a broader level. The Business IP network supports the flexible and secure exchange of information between disparate sites at a moment’s notice.
For corporate customers, this provides significant advantages in terms of service availability. In many situations customers will be able to connect distant computers to ensure critical data and processes are replicated across different regions. If one server becomes unavailable, the other can take over, ensuring the continuity of the business. MPLS can provide the guaranteed communications throughput that such failover applications require.
There is no reason such process replication cannot be extended outside the business. In the event of a power blackout, for example, an IP network would enable a company to reroute transaction processing tasks to an alternative third-party partner using low-cost, standard interfaces.
The low cost of IP-based networks, compared to comparable private network or frame relay systems, also makes it possible to back up data on a constant basis from one location to another. With more expensive dedicated private point-to-point networks, it was previously more cost effective to simply send back-up data tapes to another location via a courier, with all of the reliability and security implications that this carries.
Inherent security
Back-up and redundancy applications can be operated securely on Allstream’s network. Unlike the conventional Internet, in which traffic is intermingled, Business IP service can segregate different senders’ traffic using virtual private networking capabilities. This not only logically separates traffic owned by different companies on the network, ensuring privacy and security for customers, but also encrypts the traffic, securing a company’s data from the point of transmission.
These measures are particularly important as more companies move to promote security from within. They are realizing the importance of protecting their computing assets at all points on the network, instead of relying on simple firewalls to block unwanted traffic at a single point.
Allstream’s Business IP Services complement its Business Continuity Solutions, which include best-practice methodologies designed to use IP-based networks effectively within a risk-reduction scenario. Allstream’s Business IP service can serve as a perfect foundation for a partnership that extends into managed services including, hosting and security services, data storage and infrastructure management. Today more than ever before, companies need a partner with the proven ability to deliver.
TELUS security team delivers real-time expertise.
Most top security vendors use TELUS service
When people think about top security companies, TELUS may not be the first name that springs to mind. But it should be.
Anyone who works in an IT shop knows only too well that vulnerabilities in software products are one of the top security challenges companies face.
In fact, these vulnerabilities average about 300 per month per company, which works out to about 15 per work day, says Dr. Richard Reiner, chief security/technology officer with Toronto-based Assurent Secure Technologies, a TELUS company. This number is expected to increase dramatically in the next few years.
"If you are the one responsible for maintaining security for an IT shop, you have to stay on top of this, Reiner says. "You also have to qualify if it is real."
To put this in perspective, he used the example of Reuters, a global information company that has about 10,000 servers on the Internet. Reiner says a single emergency update for a company of that size can easily cost them millions of dollars.
Last April, when TELUS acquired Assurent Secure Technologies, it brought with it the Vulnerability Research Team (VRT). This specialized team provides in-depth and ongoing analysis of security-vendor products and related engineering and consulting services, such as the Threat Protection Program and a Secure Development Model framework and templates.
In fact, according to Reiner, 16 of the top 20 security vendors now use this service daily. This is one of TELUS’ best kept secrets so far, but the company is hoping that will soon change—especially as Web services continue to grow in popularity.
Being Web enabled greatly increases the need for a service like this, he said. "What many companies have done is open a hole in their firewall. You have to do this in order to let people get at your apps." However, even tiny openings are where the problems begin, he said.
"It may be a pin hole, but it’s big enough for someone to launch an attack."
|
|
|
| Green Innovation |
|
|
| Top 300 Issue |
 
|
| Gadget of the Week (Canadian) |
|
Pick the best 3G for you
RIM Blackberry Bold
Choosing the right smartphone is an important decision, and here’s the good news: while both the new iPhone and the Bold are excellent, the feel is entirely different, making it easy to choose.
more>>
|
| Gadget of the Week (Japanese) |
Sounds of Japan
Why record just the visual when you can capture the sounds as well.
more>> |
| Backblog RSS feed |
Click to subscribe  |
|
sponsored by 
