Piacenza AUSL Chooses Stonesoft
Piacenza AUSL
Born in 1994
out of the fusion of three Local Health Units, the Piacenza AUSL covers the entire territory of the
Province of Piacenza: more than 2,500 km of surface and over 270,000 inhabitants. The ASL refers to
the public health service of the Emilia-Romagna region and is articulated in three districts that
provide the resident population with highly integrated social and health services. A single
network, provincial infrastructure with 1500 PCs connected to 60 servers and all computerized
medical equipment grouped in two large administrative seats, five hospitals (Piacenza, Fiorenzuola,
Castel San Giovanni, Bobbio and Villanova sull'Arda) and about thirty minor branches spread all
over the Emilian province, using technologies that range from optic fiber to the more common
ADSL.
The challenge
It is therefore not surprising that the Piacenza AUSL
requires a user-friendly architecture with flexible safety, capable of managing the complexities of
a single access system to the network. In particular, in 2004 the autonomous administration system
was switched to a network system, in terms of competences as well as of architecture (outsourced
until that moment), which intensified the need to empower the pre-existing perimeter safety system.
A partner selection process was then initiated in order to search for an easy-to-use solution which
protected data at a perimeter and scalable level, i.e. capable of increasing or reducing its own
performance as needed. The Piacenza AUSL made use of the system integrator Emilia Informatica,
whose role was crucial in defining the perimeter protection architecture and in the harmonization
of the management of multiple links that were geographically spread, adapting them to homogeneous
instruments that are easy to manage and interchangeable. The relationship between Emilia
Informatica and the Piacenza AUSL has the duration of ten years and has consolidated itself over
the years until a veritable partnership was reached, with the two parties collaborating on all the
most current ICT issues: security, system integration, virtualization, networking. “The partnership
with the AUSL leads us to understand and consider security problems in an overall manner, and
therefore to suggest integrations that also make up the extra feature of the Stonesoft solution.
This solution was selected by the AUSL to respond to the need to improve the perimeter security
system”, stated Alberto Conti, CEO of Emilia Informatica.
The solution
The partner selection phase by the Piacenza AUSL was concluded with the selection of the Stonesoft solutions, an innovative Finnish multinational company present in the logical security market since 1990.
After the test phase, which lasted two months, came the implementation of a couple of highly reliable StoneGate Firewall appliances which immediately proved to be better performing and more efficient, with an excellent cost/efficiency ratio.
The use of Stonesoft technologies has allowed the AUSL to make the architecture of the perimeter network totally uniform, with the possibility to manage, from a single point, all Internet accesses (international and regional networks). From the technical point of view, the support of Emilia Informatica has proved to be crucial for the designing of the solution, the installation and the configuration of the environment and the support provided to the Piacenza AUSL.
Evolution
Over the
years, in parallel with the process of technological innovation started by the Piacenza AUSL, it
became necessary to revise the entire security infrastructure in order to adapt it to the new
requirements of the AUSL. In 2008, the initial couple of StoneGate devices was replaced by six
couples of StoneGate appliances, with better performances, which were completed with a StoneGate
SSL/VPN redundant couple for network access from mobile devices; this choice is explained by its
native compatibility with the company's smart card. There was also a further Firewall couple of
high reliability to protect accesses from outside.
“Other than the uniformity of the Firewall architecture, the adoption of Stonesoft solutions has allowed us to easily introduce technologies such as VPN (IPSec) and SSL VPN, already integrated in the StoneGate platform. In particular, the SSL VPN devices only represent the controlled access point to the company's resources by authorized used or agencies, who use evolved authentication mechanisms such as OTP and digital certificates on smart cards integrated to the MS Active Directory platform”, says Corti.
“The final goal”, says Daniele Tinelli, responsible for the Networking Systems within the Operative Unit of Information Technology Systems in Piacenza, “is to have all accesses to the AUSL portals transit through the StoneGate platform, from the CUP (Italian medical service reservation system), clinics, drugstores, general practitioners, external consultants and authorized personnel”.
The benefits
Thanks to a series of new-generation firewall functions, the StoneGate platform has been perfectly capable of fulfilling the needs of the Piacenza AUSL regarding the protection of Web accesses.
“In fact, StoneGate was designed to satisfy the needs of security, business continuity and continuous flow of information by central and remote branches”, explains Emilio Turani, Country Manager of StoneSoft Italia, Italian Switzerland, Greece and Turkey. “The Firewall and all other StoneGate devices offer full network security with functions of simplified configuration and unified management through the management console StoneGate Management Center”.
“When I decided to adopt StoneGate, I was expecting nothing but a firewall. I was surprised to discover many other extraordinary functions which ensure the operative continuity of the service and uninterrupted network connectivity, fundamental elements for a health system. For instance, the integrated firewall clustering or the load balancing function, which avoids the overload of Internet connections, or, still, the interoperability with other brands and the possibility to administrate the available band according to priority categories, ensure a certain quality of service”, concludes Daniele Tinelli.
The current new Piacenza AUSL network infrastructure includes direct connection to Lepida, the wide band network of the Emilia-Romagna region (up to 100 MB), also protected by Stonesoft applications.
About Stonesoft
Stonesoft Corporation (NASDAQ OMX: SFT1V) is an innovative provider of integrated network security solutions to secure the information flow of distributed organizations. Stonesoft customers include enterprises with growing business needs requiring advanced network security and always-on business connectivity.StoneGate™ Secure Connectivity Solution unifies firewall, VPN, IPS and SSL VPN blending network security, end-to-end availability and award-winning load balancing into a centrally managed system. The key benefits of StoneGate Secure Connectivity Solution include low TCO, excellent price-performance ratio and high ROI. The StoneGate Virtual Security Solutions protect the network and ensure business continuity in both virtual and physical network environments.
StoneGate Management Center provides unified management for StoneGate Firewall with VPN, IPS and SSL VPN. StoneGate Firewall and IPS work together to provide intelligent defense throughout the enterprise network while StoneGate SSL VPN provides enhanced security for mobile and remote use.
Founded in 1990, Stonesoft Corporation is a global company with corporate headquarters in Helsinki, Finland and Americas headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information, visit www.stonesoft.com and http://stoneblog.stonesoft.com.
