That’s why we wanted to share this story of one of our customers, a large organisation delivering critical services in the current situation, who had to adapt quickly to continue to do it. Our customer did have some remote access capability, with a remote access VPN in place, with capacity for approximately 750 staff, but the recent pandemic forced them to re-evaluate their infrastructure to enable all staff to work from home – for approximately 3000 employees.
Scaling a solution that quickly can be tricky and required some out-of-the-box thinking. One of the biggest challenges to overcome was that global hardware vendors and distributors have advised delays in their supply chain. This meant we could be facing an 8 to 12-week lead time for these supplies to arrive – too long. A second challenge was the need to quickly scale the capacity in their data centre and bandwidth to support the sudden increase in the remote workforce. Finally, due to the nature of the business, the solution needed to be highly secure.
The answer was combining technology that was familiar to the organisation, along with a public cloud solution. The solution used Cisco virtual Adaptive Security Appliances (firewalls), hosted in AWS to provide a remote access VPN. The benefit of this solution is that it will ensure that the current load requirements are met, and the large volume of remote staff can work securely without interruptions or delays.
Additionally, with virtual ASAs hosted in AWS, they now have secure access with greater controls in place. Finally, AC3 are also offering managed services and support which will give the customer the confidence that their mission critical infrastructure is proactively monitored.
Our team took some great learnings from delivering this project in record speed, which we wanted to share in this time:
The time pressure coupled with strict requirements led us to a solution that we might not normally have proposed to this customer. This out of the box thinking helped the customer find a fit for purpose solution. If there are any technical challenges you are facing that seem impossible to solve, consider tapping in some fresh minds to offer perspective.
If you focus on the business outcome first and foremost, rather than the details of the technology (which can be tempting to most solutions architects and engineers), it might encourage some lateral thinking which will lead you to an unexpected solution.
We hope this story helps you come up with a creative solution to whatever challenge you are facing. If you would like to know more about how we can help, please do not hesitate to reach out.
Stay safe and healthy during this time.