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Many businesses have two or more computers in their office but
find that they have no reliable way of sharing files or that they
require a way to share a single internet connection between all the
computers in an office. This is the ideal time to install a network.
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As companies grow they find that they need to share information
between offices, or remote workers, but they are also concerned about
the security of their information. Securely connecting two, or more,
networks, or several remote workers to a network, is ideally achieved
by setting up a Virtual Private Network (VPN) through broadband internet
connections.
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Installing An Internet-Enabled Local Area Network (LAN)
~ A security services business had three computers, each
with a separate internet connection and no reliable method
of sharing files. With three dial-up internet accounts
the ISP and phone charges were very high and the many
duplicated files caused mistakes to be made when providing
information to their clients.
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Providing An Internet Telephony Service (VoIP)
~ A homelessness charity, with three residences, was
spending over £500 per year on local phone calls and staff
were finding it difficult to contact each other.
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Connecting Remote Offices Securely With A VPN
~ A credit union, with a head office and one branch
office, stored customer records in a database on a
server in the head office. The branch office
could not access the database, but as the number of
customers increased the branch office was required to
provide account balances and loan status information to
customers visiting them.
Installing An Internet-Enabled Local Area Network (LAN)
The Client's Problem
A business providing security services had three computers, each
with a separate internet connection. With three separate dial-up
internet accounts the ISP and phone charges were costing over £1000
per year.
Information was shared between the three computers by copying data
files to floppy disks or CD-ROMs. The many duplicated files on the
three computers were impossible to keep synchronised so mistakes were
made when providing information to their clients.
Glideslope Software's eBusiness Solution
The eBusiness Solution was provided in two stages:
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Installation of a Network Hub and File Server
Network cabling and a hub were placed in the company's
office. Network interface cards (NIC) were installed in
the computers and the internal modems were removed. A
file server, complete with mirrored hard disk drives and
a tape back-up system, was supplied and also connected to
the network.
The file server and the computers were configured to
enable authenticated logons and the shared files were
placed in shared folders on the file server with access
permissions allocated on the basis of the logon names.
A secure network enables the business to maintain
accurate versions of data files, without the problems of
duplicate files, and the implemetation of a back-up
procedure ensures that data security is greatly
improved.
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Installation of a Secure Broadband Internet Connection
With a LAN installed only a single internet access account
was required and a broadband ADSL internet connection was
selected as the optimal choice for providing reliable
internet access at a significantly reduce cost.
A wires-only ADSL service was activated and an ADSL router
complete with an integral firewall was supplied. In
keeping with our standard security policy, personal
firewalls were also installed on the server and the
computers as a secondary level of defence against cracker
activity.
The use of a secure, broadband internet connection
costs the business approximately £320 per year; a saving
of almost £700 per year, and gives vastly improved
internet access compared with several dial-up accounts.
A Typical Internet-Enabled LAN
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Providing An Internet Telephony Service (VoIP)
The Client's Problem
The support workers of a homelessness charity, with three residences,
had to consult with each other many times a day whilst providing
support services to their residents. In most cases the consultations
were carried out by phone with support workers in one of the other residences
and the charity was spending over £500 per year on local phone calls.
In addition, as many of the support workers moved between the three
locations each day, it was often difficult to actually locate them.
With limited funding, a requirement to keep overhead costs as low
as possible, and a need to improve consultations the charity had to
find a better way for support workers to contact each other,
without restricting working methods.
Glideslope Software's eBusiness Solution
The eBusiness Solution was provided in two stages:
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Installation of a Secure Intranet
Previous rounds of funding had provided the resources to
install a secure intranet between the three residences
utilising VPNs via broadband connections.
Roaming profiles were enabled so that support workers were
able to use any of the networked computers at the three
residences, whilst still having access to their own data.
A secure intranet allows the charity's support workers
to use any computer and so, despite moving between the
residences, a support worker can be located by determining
which computer she is using.
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Installation of VoIP Enabled Phones and Software
VoIP enabled telephone handsets and compatible messaging
software were installed on the charity's fifteen computers.
The messaging software was integrated into the roaming
profiles so that no matter which computer a support
worker was using she had the same VoIP indentification and
so could be contacted without knowing her physical location.
The use of VoIP improves communications using a
device which everbody is familiar with; the telephone
handset, and local call costs are significantly reduced, so
cutting the charity's overheads by approximately £500 per
year.
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Connecting Remote Offices Securely With A VPN
The Client's Problem
A credit union, with a head office and one branch office, stored
customer records in a database on a server located in the head office.
The branch office completed paper-based transaction forms whenever a
customer made a deposit or withdrawl. These forms were then sent to the
head office for entry into the database, which could take several days.
As the number of customers increased it became necessary for the
branch office to have immediate access to the customers' transaction
details so that account balances and loan status information could
be provided to customers visiting it.
Glideslope Software's eBusiness Solution
The eBusiness Solution was provided in two stages:
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Installation of VPN Routers
Both offices already had internet-enabled LANs
installed, with the internet connections provided by
broadband ADSL services.
To provide a secure internet-based link between the branch
office and the head office VPN routers with integral
firewalls were installed. In keeping with our standard
security policy, personal firewalls were also installed on
the server and the computers as a secondary level of
defence against cracker activity.
The use of VPNs enables the security of the credit
union's customers' personal information to be ensured
when it is transferred via the internet, as the VPN
routers provide an encrypted, direct link for the secure
transmission of the data.
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Installation of Terminal Services
The credit union used an industry-standard account
management application running on the head office computers
to enter transaction details. However the amount of
data that had to be transferred across the VPN links to
the branch office meant that a similar approach could not
be used to provide real-time access to customer account
details.
To resolve this the Terminal Services Server application
was installed on the head office server and the Terminal
Services Client application was installed on the computers
in the branch office.
The use of Terminal Services enables the account
management application to be run directly on the
head office server for all computers, wherever their
physical location. As only the screen image and keyboard
strokes need to travel via a VPN, a fast and highly secure
method for the branch office to access customer account
details in real-time is provided.
A Typical VPN Between Two LANs
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With a secure network and internet connection your
business information can be shared easily and safely, even
with staff in remote offices by using a VPN. A secure network
installed today will meet your business needs, both now and in
the future.
Phone:
Email:
Post:
2 Wince Brook
Middleton
Manchester M24 1BN
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