CheckPoint Software > Case Studies > TDC Song's Telecommunications Transformation with VPN-1 VSX

TDC Song's Telecommunications Transformation with VPN-1 VSX

Technology Category

Cybersecurity & Privacy - Network Security
Networks & Connectivity - Gateways

Applicable Industries

National Security & Defense
Telecommunications

Applicable Functions

Maintenance

Use Cases

Personnel Tracking & Monitoring
Tamper Detection

Services

System Integration

About The Customer

TDC Song is a leading Nordic telecom operator that offers a wide range of services within data communication and telephony in Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Denmark. The company possesses leading-edge expertise within data communication, with main services being IP VPN and Internet access. Business customers are connected at competitive prices to the group’s fiber network, which offers the best coverage in the Nordic region and high capacity. TDC Song’s main competitive advantage is the ability to offer efficient and technically advanced communications solutions in combination with personal reception and top-quality customer service.

The Challenge

TDC Song, a leading Nordic telecom operator, faced a significant challenge when it was acquired by the TDC Group of Denmark. The acquisition required a name change and a complex consolidation of backend systems across the entire Nordic region, including Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. As a telecom service provider to 23,000 customers, primarily medium to large enterprises, TDC Song needed to offer easy-to-implement security policies to their customers. However, the company only provided capacity and not security consultation. The consolidation project required a solution that could handle the consolidation of separate physical gateways onto one virtualized gateway, while also allowing for easy adjustment of security policies based on individual end-customer preferences.

The Solution

TDC Song chose Check Point's VPN-1 VSX for the consolidation project. The company began planning the consolidation of its separate physical gateways onto one virtualized gateway in February 2004. By May, the telecom carrier started consolidating its gateways in Sweden and then initiated the process in Finland in June. The first production system for internal users was up and running by February 2005. Using VPN-1 VSX in a mixed end-user environment, TDC Song ensured that the system would operate as anticipated for its own employees before it started offering managed end services via VSX to its customers. With more than 150 predefined applications and protocols supported out of the box, VPN-1 VSX enabled TDC Song to provision security to a large number of customers in a point-of-presence (POP) environment. The solution also allowed for off-site configuration changes and maintenance, increasing efficiency and reducing operating costs.

Operational Impact

The implementation of VPN-1 VSX solution has allowed TDC Song to leverage its networking and security investments effectively. With a total of 900 employees and a maximum of 40 IT people in the whole of the Nordic region, the company has been able to maintain a very efficient network operations staff. The easy-to-rollout nature of the VPN-1 VSX solution has helped the carrier leverage its manpower with the nonstop security provided via ClusterXL technology that keeps all the domains on the VSX gateway synchronized. This has also reduced the possible number of configuration errors. Furthermore, TDC Song can now contend with the cross-border challenge of differing governmental rules and regulations, as the offering can be tailored by the customer to put up security rules ranging from loose to restrictive.

Quantitative Benefit

Consolidated multiple physical gateways onto one VPN-1 VSX gateway
Enabled provision of security to a large number of customers in a POP environment
Reduced operating costs through off-site configuration changes and maintenance