04 May 2018
Fire detection and security manufacturer Protec Fire Detection is using Opengear solutions to deliver a robust IT continuity strategy and streamline remote access across multiple sites.
Since being founded in 1968, Protec now has six sites nationwide and more than a thousand staff.
Its IT infrastructure features around 50 servers delivering critical service management, CRM, ERP and CAD applications in support of its product and services portfolio that includes planning and design, optional installation and project management, through to commissioning and maintenance.
To further strengthen its ability to guard against loss of critical IT systems, Protec wanted to enhance its remote access and remediation capabilities.
The firm’s IT manager Vinod Varkey says: “We already use a combination of leased lines and VPN to connect all our sites, but we wanted to improve our business continuity position through the implementation of an out-of-band [OOB] remote access solution that would automatically failover if we had any issues with WAN connections.”
Based on advice from its IT solutions partner Flow Communications, Protec selected Opengear’s ACM 7004-2Smart-OOB appliances with four serial Cisco Straight pinout, external power, 2GbE and LTE cellular capability.
The appliances are connected to firewalls at each site to allow for remote monitoring and configuration using the Opengear Lighthouse 5centralised management platform.
Varkey says the installation process was relatively straightforward and that his team conducted a number of failover tests to the out-of-band 4G connection.
“Everything has worked as expected. We still use our VPN as the primary method of monitoring and updating our firewalls, but Opengear provides us with an additional layer of security that we know we can rely on if there is any issues at a remote site.”