CASE STUDY
The network of offices uses a mix of WatchGuard Firebox M270 and M370 devices , depending on the number of staff at each location . WatchGuard AP325 Wi-Fi access points are also currently being rolled out to provide improved wireless LAN coverage in each office .
WatchGuard ’ s managed services partner , Greenlight , has been working with Jellis Craig for three years and assisting with equipment selection and purchasing . Prior to this , the real estate company had been a WatchGuard customer but was served by reseller Solution Plus Australia which Greenlight acquired .
“ Greenlight ’ s support has been very helpful ,” said Marotta . “ Its technical knowledge and speed of service has been second to none .” be automatically routed over this alternative connection instead .
“ Security is enhanced by the fact that we only have one Microsoft Active Directory instance for the entire company ,” said Marotta . “ In some offices there is nothing in place apart from the firewall and some access points . Our VPN connections also make working from and accessing head-office resources simple , reliable and secure .”
Marotta said his internal team continues to undertake deployments of additional WatchGuard devices as required . Greenlight continues to provide support by supplying the devices and ensuring the internal team is fully briefed on technical developments in the market .
Marotta said that , while the WatchGuard gear was working well for the company , the IT team realized it needed a more efficient way to manage it . “ With just a small internal team and almost 30 different locations to cover , remote monitoring and management was really the only option for us ,” he said .
The solution
After considering a range of options , the Jellis Craig IT team made the decision to deploy the WatchGuard Cloud management platform . This enables the team to manage all Wi-Fi access points through a single portal . WatchGuard Fireboxes are currently being managed through WatchGuard System Manager .
“ In the next six to 12 months , as the capabilities of WatchGuard Cloud increase , we will be looking to use that for managing the firewalls as well ,” said Marotta .
The benefits
With the firewalls , access points and management portals in place , Marotta says on-going management of the entire infrastructure is very straight forward . The portals allow the team visibility down to a device level in each of the office locations .
“ They help us to decide which products best suit our requirements ,” he said . “ They also assist with deal registrations and ensuring we take advantage of the best trade-up and trade-in options as WatchGuard devices are upgraded .”
Marotta said he has also been impressed with the service offered directly by WatchGuard . He recently had to go through the process of equipping a new large two-level office with a Wi-Fi network and WatchGuard assisted by examining floor plans and determining the optimal location for each access point .
“ Our future plans include setting up a virtual WatchGuard appliance on the AWS cloud platform ,” he said . “ We plan to move our head office infrastructure on to the cloud platform as part of our strategy to shift from on-prem equipment .”
Marotta said the company is not expecting its growth rate to slow , due to on-going strong demand for real estate services . “ I expect both WatchGuard and Greenlight will continue to be valuable technology partners for Jellis Craig for many years to come ,” he concludes .
Intelligent CIO asked Christian Marotta , IT Team Head , Jellis Craig , further questions to find out more about the implementation .
“ We can see everything that ’ s connected to our Wi-Fi networks , the connection speed they are achieving , and the signal strength ,” he said . “ If someone calls us to report that their Wi-Fi network is running slowly , we can quickly jump on and determine what is causing the issue .”
Each WatchGuard firewall has a backup 4G dongle in place . This means that , if there is a fault or disruption to the Internet connection , traffic can
What were the main IT challenges you faced previously with so many different locations to cover ?
Previous to rolling out a consistent WatchGuard infrastructure across our franchises we had a mismatch of hardware to manage , multiple platforms to monitor and inconsistent levels of security . This made it difficult to create our own cost effective and reliable branch office WAN / VPN .
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