Publishing Company Augments ConSentry Controller Deployment with LANShield Switches to Extend Visibility and Control at the LAN Edge
MILPITAS, Calif. -- ConSentry Networks, the leader in secure switching, announced today that the Las Vegas Review-Journal (LVRJ) has upgraded its switching infrastructure with the ConSentry LANShield Switch. With LANShield Controllers in place for nearly two years, LVRJ selected the LANShield Switch for the headquarters' edge switch upgrade project, in lieu of retaining the company's existing switch vendor. The combination of ConSentry controllers and switches enables LVRJ to roll out secure switching pervasively, providing identity-based control throughout the headquarters' facility.
The IT staff at the LVRJ was tasked with providing reporters with the broad network access they need while restricting access for other users, based on a need-to-know basis. IT also had to address a range of security requirements across each business unit. The job was further complicated by the fact that IT provides infrastructure support for LVRJ owner Stephens Media, which has about 1,600 network users in about 50 sites, ranging in size from the 700-person headquarters to one-person news bureaus. In addition, IT needed a simple way to restrict vendors and other visitors to Internet-only access--and after spending 26 hours cleaning up after a Blaster worm, IT also wanted a robust malware control solution.
Previous to any ConSentry deployment, the LVRJ staff was considering broadening the intrusion detection and protection system (IDS/IPS) internally and had been using virtual LANs (VLANs) and access control lists (ACLs) to limit user access. However, extending the IDS/IPS roll out was prohibitively expensive, and the VLAN/ACL approach not only strained IT's limited resources but left serious security holes.
"Then management started intermixing people in different departments, which made it impossible to use access controls based on subnets," said Steven Olson, infrastructure manager for the LVRJ. "That's when we started looking for another solution."
ConSentry Offers Better Solution
The search for a better solution led the LVRJ to ConSentry and its LANShield platforms. The company first deployed a redundant configuration of two LANShield Controllers two years ago. The pair controls access across all LAN segments in the headquarters' location and the wide-area connections from remote sites. The LANShield Controllers automatically grant access privileges to users based on the role or group identity in Active Directory as well as on other criteria such as application and server.
"Our LANShield Controllers run in-line with our core router; every subnet head-ends at a ConSentry port before it hits our core and is able to route anywhere else," said Olson, who also supports all of Stephens Media. "From that single point, we're able to control access down to the user level. We can also grant guest access that lets outside vendors get to the Internet but nowhere else."
Choosing ConSentry for the Switch Upgrade
In preparing for a VoIP rollout, the IT team decided to upgrade the headquarters' LAN by bringing Gigabit Ethernet connections to desktops and migrating the backbone to 10 Gbps. LVRJ looked again to ConSentry for a solution. Olson wanted secure switches with redundancy features, such as rapid spanning tree, as well as fiber uplinks and power over Ethernet (PoE) support. The ConSentry LANShield Switch not only met his switching requirements but also offered a full set of LAN security services for a modest premium over a non-secure switch. By pushing visibility and control as close to the edge of the network as possible, the LANShield Switch can contain problems such as malware outbreaks at the switch port or user level, so they do no propagate throughout a subnet.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal also plans to upgrade the switches at its other locations to the ConSentry secure switch, ensuring remote sites will have the same level of access control as headquarters. Plus, with ConSentry deployed in those locations, the IT team will gain visibility into traffic at remote sites for the first time.
"The Las Vegas-Review Journal's decision to upgrade to our LANShield Switch reflects the need organizations have to push control and security all the way to the LAN edge," said Tom Barsi, president and CEO of ConSentry Networks. "With the visibility, application fluency, and identity-based control our secure switching provides, companies gain a view of the LAN they've never had before and a way to control user access for the first time."
About ConSentry Networks
ConSentry Networks delivers secure switching, enabling enterprises to control every user and secure every port on the LAN through its LANShield product family--the LANShield[TM] Switch, LANShield Controller, and InSight[TM] Command Center. More than 100 enterprises today rely on ConSentry's award-winning secure-switching platforms to protect their corporate assets, ensure continuity of operations, and dramatically reduce the risk of security breaches. ConSentry is backed by blue-chip venture capital firms Accel Partners, DAG Ventures, INVESCO Private Capital, and Sequoia Capital; and is headquartered in Milpitas, California.
ConSentry Networks, the ConSentry Networks logo, LANShield, and "Control every user. Secure every port." are trademarks of ConSentry Networks Inc., for use in the United States and other countries. All other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective holders.
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