CCA International
chooses to rely on Stonesoft solutions

CCA International LogoParis, 30 July 2009 - CCA International, founded in 1994, is an international call center with over 3,000 employees. Previously known as Call Center Alliance, CCA International works for several operators in a number of different countries, including the United Kingdom, Morocco, Mauritius, Spain, Monaco and France, where it has no less than six facilities including its main site in Poitiers.


The challenge

cca_01CCA International’s multiple locations are more or less distant from each other geographically and each individual location originally had its own network infrastructure. The fact that they were totally independent did not facilitate ease of communication and secure data exchange internally. And yet smooth data communications between branch offices is an essential prerequisite for success in business.

It was therefore crucial for CCA International to remedy this situation and make it as easy as possible for employees at the various locations to have secure access to each other’s data.


Deployment

The project got underway late in 2007 when CCA International began looking into Stonesoft’s solutions via its integrator Protego. CCA International also requested a quote from another large integrator, which proposed a different range of solutions. After analysing each proposal, Hasan Yorulmaz, the company’s executive IT manager, decided to place his trust in the Stonesoft proposal. Each subsidiary was equipped with a FW-300 firewall, while two FW-1050 firewalls were deployed in a cluster at the main location in Poitiers.

These appliances offered a wide range of security functions, such as high-availability, intrusion prevention (IPS), IPsec VPN, load balancing and network segmentation, all of which are managed via a central administration console, the StoneGate Management Center, which was installed at the Poitiers location.


Benefits and perspectives

cca_02CCA International’s various locations are now interlinked via a secure VPN IPsec connection thanks to the Stonesoft FW-300 and FW-1050 appliances. According to Yorulmaz: "CCA International was initially drawn to these solutions by Stonesoft’s brand recognition, performance and the equipment’s quality-to-price ratio. The QoS (Quality of Service) concept also played a key role in the final choice since it supports the setting of priorities between voice flows and data flows on the bandwidth. Also, unlike its challenger, Stonesoft offered support services on this project. That was a decisive factor in our decision."

Yorulmaz also pointed out that he particularly appreciated the availability, involvement, guidance, follow-up and technical proficiency shown by Protego throughout this project. The post-deployment maintenance provided by Protego’s teams also weighed heavily in the choice of the Stonesoft proposal.

Another weighty argument for Yorulmaz was Stonesoft’s highly simplified licence policy. Unlike certain providers, which issue numerous licences – making relations with licensees confused and complicated –, Stonesoft has a single, simple and precise licence system.

In addition, the load balancing provided by Stonesoft appliances ensures balanced loads and increases quality of service by improving response time, among other things.

"In view of CCA International’s line of business, Stonesoft is pleased to be able to help guarantee the service continuity and QoS of the company’s inter-location network flows; these two factors play a critical role in the smooth functioning of its operations," said Léonard Dahan, Stonesoft’s Country Manager for France and Benelux.


Conclusion

Hasan Yorulmaz is very satisfied with the collaborative effort with Stonesoft and Protego. The networking of CCA International’s various facilities and their centralisation in Poitiers went without a hitch. The IPsec VPN protocol offered by the FW-1050 and FW-300 appliances is the perfect, completely secure solution for CCA International’s inter-location connection requirements. The system has proved to be extremely stable and efficient: "We have seen a time savings of 60 to 70% thanks to the Stonesoft solutions and the architecture recommended by Protego," he added, "and this allows us to be much more productive."


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.