VPN (Virtual Private Networks)

Located in 3 marina-side offices on the south coast, this yacht broker needed each office to be able to access the same consistent database of yacht details as well as to operate the same domain name for e-mail in each of the 3 offices.

In the past, the organisation had operated a variety of offline update methods and managed e-mail through a basic mail collector system, which whilst functional, did not do so particularly effectively or reliably.

Before the project, each office operated as an isolated entity, each with its own server, and connected to the other offices only by means of Internet e-mail. The first step therefore was to create the means for the offices to participate on the same logical network. This was achieved by installing the appropriate Internet firewalls based on BorderWare technologies with VPN capabilities at each office. These BorderWare firewalls were configured so that each office could communicate seamlessly and securely with the others.

The next stage was to make the servers and PCs of each office operate as a single logical domain, so that all computers on the network could communicate with each other as if they were in the same office. This was achieved by making the network operate as a single Microsoft Windows 2000 Server network. With a root server in the head office and controller servers in the other two offices, users could easily access data on their local server, as well as a central server at head office. The local servers in each office also meant that the users could continue to work in the event of any network failure between the offices.

With the main network elements in place, an effective central e-mail system and optimal access to the central database could be provided. For the central e-mail system, Microsoft Exchange was used to give users an internal e-mail system, Internet e-mail and a shared diary facility. Microsoft Terminal Services, running at the head office location, allowed the users in the remote offices to use the central database in such a way as to maximise the use of the available network.

You can browse some of the options here- also take a look at our security pages for more helpful advice.

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