Communication Costs

Ravlin security solution offers Shamrock Holdings a flexible, cost-effective telecommunications system.

Shamrock Holdings is a private holding company wholly owned by the Roy E. Disney family. Located in Burbank, California. It is made up of Shamrock Real Estate and Shamrock Capital Advisors, one of the nation's largest merchant banks. Shamrock's CIO Jeff Weiss in particular appreciates the flexibility the Ravlin product line offers. "Whether you're setting up devices to be used for creating an Internet tunnel or passing key information along, the flexibility of the system is so advantageous," he says. 

The Situation

Though it is a relatively small company of 50, Shamrock Holdings had to think in global terms when evaluating its telecommunications needs. Shamrock operates satellite offices in England, Australia, and Israel, and has executives constantly traveling throughout the U.S. and abroad at any given time. 

Shamrock chose a dial­up system using AT&T WorldNet to offer its staff access to email and files when traveling. AT&T was selected because it provided the largest number of remote access locations worldwide. But problems concerning performance and reliability soon arose. Dropped calls were common, and international connections were often static­ ridden. Topping it off, charges for the long-distance calls were racking up quite a bill. It was time to look for an alternative approach.

The Challenge

Knowing that an Internet solution was a possible route to take, Jeff Weiss, Chief Information Officer at Shamrock, investigated this possibility with his telecommunications provider. AT&T did offer their own package for secure IP, but this would have been outside the control of Shamrock. "Security was our objective, given the nature of our company which deals in part with confidential financial data," said Weiss. "But beyond that, we wanted to provide our executives with the confidence that they had the best Internet security plan on the planet. We felt our best alternative was an on premise solution we could see and touch." 

In order to ensure privacy of information submitted over the Internet and provide control of access to Shamrock's corporate resources, Weiss realized that creating a Virtual Private Network (VPN) was the way to go. While on duty with the Civil Air Patrol, Weiss learned about government groups that utilized high level encryption products. His interest piqued when he heard that the CIA was using Ravlin products. "I knew immediately that if the highest security agency can feel comfortable using Ravlins, so could we," he said.

The Solution

Shamrock Holdings installed two Ravlin® 7100s, two Ravlin 3200s, and 1 Ravlin 10. Having a secure Internet tunneling solution in place enabled Shamrock to take the next step of installing a DSL farm of 15 connections. Operating as an additional seamless network backbone system, the DSL farm is changing the way Shamrock employees conduct business. Now, many can telecommute from home, using their home PCs to securely connect to the office. This is proving especially helpful to those executives who are conducting business with international clients and need to dash off an early morning or late night email. And the telecommuting option is helping Shamrock, a civic minded company located in Southern California, to do its part to relieve traffic congestion and air pollution in the area. 

Weiss in particular appreciates the flexibility the Ravlin product line offers. "Whether you're setting up devices to be used for creating an Internet tunnel or passing key information along, the flexibility of the system is so advantageous," he says. Shamrock also ordered a license for 10 Ravlin Soft users. The software allows these mobile users to access the network from anywhere in the world using high speed connectivity. "Ravlin Soft allows you to establish the level of performance or security that you want," Weiss notes. "Authentication options are very flexible, and so is installation and configuration." Weiss is also impressed that the Ravlin system requires little to no maintenance. "Both the Ravlin software and the reliable hardware products provide a seamless addition to our system based on 'a set it and forget it' configuration," he says. "I never have to touch them again." Since Shamrock was also interested in developing a telecommunications solution that would prove cost-effective, it has not been disappointed. "By moving to a VPN using Ravlin products, we are saving $2 to $3,000 a month in long-distance calls," reports Weiss. Weiss plans to introduce new technologies to the Shamrock system in the future, and knows that the Ravlin product line will remain in the picture. "Ravlin products are easily upgradeable and are always introducing new, improved features," he explains. "Our technology mission is to handle the future today, and Ravlin fits in perfectly with this mindset." 

About SonicWALL

SonicWALL with the recent acquisition of RedCreek Communications leads the industry in enabling the world's leading companies to expand the borders of their enterprises without increasing the vulnerability of their information assets. SonicWALL provides integrated hardware and software VPN packages that ensure the privacy of information as it is transmitted across public and private networks and provides managed access to corporate resources. With one of the largest installed customer bases in retail, financial services and technology, the company offers products ranging from pocketsize to rack mount with connections ranging from dial­up and DSL to T1 and high speed OC3 lines.