"COSMO" trading network protects its data with Microsoft Forefront

"Continuity of computers due to the lack of downtime and loss of virus attacks, as well as reducing non-productive time of employees who do not have to be distracted by reading the spam - are the main advantages of implementing Forefront for Business

Sumatra-LTD "owns a national network of health and beauty stores under the brand name" COSMO ". The company needed to unify and centralize management solutions to protect against spam and malicious software. Previously used tools obsolete, failed to provide proper accountability, using disparate technologies and had a low degree of integration with existing services. Implementation of integrated information security system based on Microsoft Forefront ™ allowed to deploy a centralized system to protect against spam and viruses, and facilitate support for existing IT infrastructure while reducing total cost of ownership. Getting rid of spam allowed to increase the productivity of employees.

Situation
Sumatra-LTD is well known in the market under the "COSMO" trademark, which represents a network of shops and pharmacies in 12 regions of Ukraine. To date, the company employs about 1300 people, and the retail chain has 90 retail properties, combined in a single network with centralized management.

The development and expansion of the company demanded unification of infrastructure solutions, including and in the field of anti-virus protection. Previously used tools from different vendors obsolete, failed to provide proper accountability, using disparate technologies and had a low degree of integration with existing services.

"The situation called for a general review and introduction of a new integrated solution that supports modern security requirements and reducing the total cost of ownership. Important factors in choosing is the reliability and product support, better integration with existing infrastructure and lack of overlapping technologies ", - recalls Yuri Ponomarenko, Head of System Administration" Sumatra-LTD.

When choosing a solution that would best correspond with their requirements, an analysis of the market antivirus and antispam solutions offerings. "As the corporate standard is to use the company's IT platform Microsoft, we first drew attention to the family of products, Forefront», - says Yuri Ponomarenko, Head of System Administration "Sumatra-LTD.

As an alternative solution from Microsoft considered the product Symantec Endpoint Security. According to Yuri Ponomarenko, attributed to the benefits of Forefront that this was the decision of the principal supplier of software companies, which is not complicated infrastructure of new technologies. Everything needed to run Forefront technologies (Active Directory, WSUS, SQL) has long and successfully used "Sumatra-LTD.

As a result, it was decided to implement a commercial network "COSMO" system of protection of client computers and corporate email from Microsoft.

Solution
The process of deploying solutions in the Forefront trading network "COSMO" was launched with the introduction of a pilot Forefront Client Security and Forefront for Exchange, which was part of setting infrastructure services. For advice and assistance has been chosen partner of Microsoft - the company "Softline International", which is present on the Ukrainian market for 8 years, has successfully implemented a number of IT projects and the positive experience of cooperation with the Sumatra-LTD.

"Before that we were engaged in project activities, usually in the sector of small and medium businesses. This same project was particular interest to us because we were dealing with a sufficiently large infrastructure "- recalls Andrew Shohanov, Head of IT consulting" Softline International.

Pilot implementation with the participation of "Softline International" totally took only one working day. The practice of using the system showed that the anti-virus solutions Microsoft Forefront meet the high expectations demanded of the corporate security equipment. Specialists Sumatra-LTD "completely convinced of the correctness of the decision to move to a new anti-virus protection of client and server computers, as well as postal infrastructure based on Exchange Server.

After testing a pilot implementation of Forefront Client Security was deployed on all enterprise computers using Active Directory and Group Policy. The transition to the new system passed quickly. Moreover, the users barely noticed the very process of transition to a different defense. "We are pleased with ease of deployment and configuration of agents via group policy and server updates WSUS», - said Alexei Rud, a system administrator Sumatra-LTD.

Switch to Forefront in the Sumatra-LTD did not pass without some features. One of the requirements for the platform for the deployment of Forefront server was to use 32-bit server systems (Windows Server, SQL Server). In Sumatra, Ltd intend to use 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008, so the company looked forward to the new product releases Forefront, to take full advantage of high-performance 64-bit systems.

Benefits
As a result of the project: deployment of a unified and centralized solution for protection against spam and malicious software, to facilitate the support of existing IT infrastructure while reducing total cost of ownership.

The centralized system of information security
Deploying Microsoft Forefront allowed the company to centrally manage antivirus client PCs with the ability to obtain all necessary reports on the health of enterprise network infrastructure. Single security policy for the entire company and close integration with existing IT infrastructure to quickly and effectively manage information security throughout the trading network "COSMO".

For us it is also important that the management of the security system does not require specialists in the field of anti-virus protection on the ground - all 90 outlets and 12 regions are managed from a single center.

Easier IT support
The used solution is fully built on technology Microsoft, which eliminates the heterogeneity of network infrastructure and, consequently, does not require a large administrative burden for its support.

«Forefront Client Security fairly quickly react to the emergence of network threats and enables fine-tune the client portion to maximize the performance of the PC end-users", - Andrey Shohanov, head of IT consulting "Softline International.

Economic impact
Using the previously deployed by the IT platform of Microsoft gave us substantial economic benefits. "This allowed us to save on training of specialists and reduce implementation time. The cost of the solution, too, was better than many competing options ", - says Yuri Ponomarenko, Head of System Administration" Sumatra-LTD.

Increased productivity
The introduction of Microsoft technology to increase efficiency of use of equipment, saving staff time when dealing with e-mail.

"With the introduction of Forefront Protection for Exchange Server 2010 spam in the inboxes of users disappeared almost completely, with no increase in the number of false positives", - says Yuri Ponomarenko, Head of System Administration "Sumatra-LTD.

One of the main advantages of Forefront Client Security is the fact that this solution not only protects your PC from malicious software, but also assesses the subject of how to safely configure your workstation, which also facilitates the work of administrators.

"Continuity of computers due to the lack of downtime and loss of virus attacks, as well as reducing non-productive time of employees who do not have to be distracted by reading the spam - are the main advantages of implementing Forefront for business", - says Yuri Ponomarenko, Head of System Administration " Sumatra-LTD.

About Microsoft Forefront
Microsoft Forefront - a comprehensive set of security products business, increasing security and control through integration with existing IT infrastructure and simplify deployment, management and analysis. Forefront products help protect client and server operating systems, application servers and the perimeter network.

Source: SoftLine