ConSentry’s Intelligent Switching Architecture Delivers Operational Efficiency, Reduced Cost, Network Control and Visibility in a Single Platform

Milpitas, CA –March 10th, 2008 – ConSentry Networks announced today that Pasporte, the UK’s leading provider of managed ICT outsourcing to the mid-market, is deploying the LANShield™ Switch platform for all customers. ConSentry’s Intelligent Switch will provide user, file and application control along with granular network visibility for Pasporte’s managed customers in each of the company’s three datacentres.

Pasporte operated a traditional network within its datacentres based on Cisco access switches, but proactively sought to upgrade these products to provide additional levels of control and visibility. After reviewing enterprise switches from ConSentry, Cisco and Juniper, Pasporte selected the LANShield CS-4048 for its ability to immediately give control and visibility of their network whilst being deployed in the same way as a traditional edge switch.  Pasporte will replace their existing Cisco access switches with the ConSentry CS-4048 48 port Gigabit switch.

“As part of our strategy to continually improve the service offering to our customers, we presented ourselves with a challenge to source an intelligent switch that would be more operationally and technically effective than our existing Cisco devices. The ConSentry Switches offer in depth visibility of user access, application activity and traffic flows,” said Steve Bedford, senior solutions architect at Pasporte. “Other vendors have a piecemeal approach with multiple add-ons and layers that increase operational expense with little extra benefit. Once we evaluated ConSentry’s single platform, it was an easy decision to deploy their product. Theirs is a simple solution with a level of functionality that the competition can’t touch.” 

ConSentry’s Intelligent Switch delivers a complete understanding of the user, what applications they have access to and their file and Internet activity. This tied with the LANShield’s transparent role based access control capability means that Pasporte can take complete control of their LAN. The LANShield Switch authenticates users and devices against standard identity stores and automatically learns their roles. For each traffic flow, it identifies the application in use and applies policies based on that user’s role.

This level of granularity ensures Pasporte are fully aware of all activity on the customer network and can manage that activity to an individual user level. The integration of user, role and application control in addition to standard switching functionality in a single platform improves efficiency, reduces OpEx and demonstrates a clear differentiated service offering for Pasporte.

“The majority of our customers have a dynamic and diverse workforce. Some of them, JD Sports and Orient Express Hotels for example, need to address the important issue of PCI compliance. They must have the ability to know exactly what is happening on their LAN,” continued Steve Bedford. “The ConSentry Intelligent Switch understands users and their roles within the organisation and addresses these challenges by ensuring only certain users can reach the applications and servers involved in credit card transactions. Furthermore, historical reporting allows us to create audit trails for all of this activity.”

Every new client of Pasporte will be provisioned a ConSentry enabled LAN. In addition, as each client contract is renewed, Pasporte will replace the existing Cisco switches with the ConSentry LANShield platform. To confirm their commitment to total LAN security, Pasporte is also deploying ConSentry LANShield Switches on its own network, utilising role-based LAN segmentation to ensure only approved individuals have access to specific customer information and resources.

Steve Bedford concluded, “Other switch vendors’ access control solutions use bolt on technologies that create additional overheads and technical headaches. ConSentry’s Intelligent Switch simplifies the complexities of LAN management and as a result, our ongoing costs related to troubleshooting, network management, security and reporting are all significantly reduced.”

“Pasporte is a leader in the outsourced ICT industry and wanted to continue their track record of innovative offerings to their customers,” said Dean Hickman-Smith, vice president of worldwide sales at ConSentry. “The deployment of Intelligent Switching has provided new functionality, visibility and control that has undoubtedly enhanced its competitive advantage, and all for the price of traditional layer 2 edge switches.”