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Case Studies > Powerful, Scalable, Secure: Well Thought-Out Barracuda NG Firewall Configuration Concept Convinces Sanochemia

Powerful, Scalable, Secure: Well Thought-Out Barracuda NG Firewall Configuration Concept Convinces Sanochemia

Technology Category

Cybersecurity & Privacy - Network Security
Cybersecurity & Privacy - Cloud Security

Applicable Industries

Pharmaceuticals

Applicable Functions

Business Operation
Quality Assurance

Services

System Integration
Software Design & Engineering Services

The Challenge

There are few sectors that place higher demands on the security of technical information systems than the pharmaceutical industry. Medication and pharmaceutical ingredients as well as manufacturing processes are the culmination of years of cost-intensive research work, which means that losing company secrets could have catastrophic consequences in competitive terms. The social significance of medicine production also means that extensive state regulations have to be complied with, which should exclude manipulation of critical data at all times. So pharmaceutical companies have to prove the highest security standards, while at the same time, optimizing their infrastructures in economic terms. These include the implementation of efficient management concepts for distributed networks as well as protecting the business continuity with highly available functionality. This was precisely the challenge facing the Austrian Sanochemia Pharmazeutika AG, a company specializing in the research and development of innovative therapeutic agents for the central nervous system. The central IT department at the Sanochemia Group had long been aware that the old security solution was pushing at its capacity limits with the growing number of users. The entire communication with different subsidiaries ran via two firewalls at the main location whereby one gateway was solely responsible for VPN and the other for email and Internet. In order to guarantee smooth data flow, the company was considering the introduction of a high availability solution. However, it soon became apparent that updating the implemented hardware appliances was not an economically feasible option. It would also have been impossible to expand the high availability to the lines.

About The Customer

Sanochemia Pharmazeutika AG is an Austrian pharmaceutical company specializing in the research and development of innovative therapeutic agents for the central nervous system. With 176 employees spread across four locations, Sanochemia is dedicated to producing high-quality medication and pharmaceutical ingredients. The company places a significant emphasis on maintaining the highest security standards due to the sensitive nature of its work, which involves years of cost-intensive research. The pharmaceutical industry, in general, demands robust security measures to protect company secrets and comply with extensive state regulations. Sanochemia's central IT department has been proactive in addressing the growing needs of its infrastructure, particularly in terms of security and efficient management of distributed networks. The company has been facing challenges with its old security solution, which was nearing its capacity limits due to the increasing number of users and the need for high availability solutions.

The Solution

The solution to Sanochemia's challenges came in the form of the Barracuda NG Firewall and Barracuda NG Control Center. The Barracuda NG Firewall is an enterprise-grade network firewall that combines comprehensive, next-generation firewall capabilities with optimal efficiency and throughput. It offers features such as coordinated WAN optimization, centralized management, and cloud-hosted content filtering and reporting. The implementation of the Barracuda NG Firewall was carried out in record time, especially after a critical failure of the existing firewalls. With the help of their longstanding IT partner, SYSTREX Datentechnik GmbH, Sanochemia was able to restore full functionality by Sunday morning, ensuring business continuity. The Barracuda NG Firewalls were chosen for their simple installation and configuration, which allowed for a quick and effective deployment. Post-implementation, all subsidiaries and warehouses at Sanochemia were connected to the main offices via Barracuda NG Firewalls. The external offices accessed critical applications through VPN and Citrix Terminal Servers, including the ERP system and other business applications. The Barracuda NG Firewalls ensured gateway and line redundancy, automatically diverting data traffic to alternative lines if a connection failed. The Traffic Intelligence feature optimized bandwidth management, allowing different IP technologies to be used in parallel and prioritizing application data based on available bandwidths. Centralized management of all gateways was achieved through the Barracuda NG Control Center, which allowed administrators to monitor remote gateways, manage configurations, define global rules, and compile information from multiple gateways. This centralized approach significantly reduced the need for security administration staff at external sites and ensured consistent implementation of time-critical changes across the company.

Operational Impact

Sanochemia achieved a highly reliable and secure distributed network with centralized management of all locations, ensuring business continuity with high availability functionality.
The implementation of Barracuda NG Firewalls reduced administrative IT work, as all rules and configurations could be defined and tested at the headquarters and then sent to subsidiaries for activation.
The Barracuda NG Firewalls provided flexibility for a growing company, allowing new locations to be integrated organically into the network and accommodating a dynamic rise in the number of employees.

Quantitative Benefit

Reduction of administrative IT work by 50%.
Direct revenue losses of tens of thousands of Euros per day avoided due to high availability and traffic intelligence features.
Full functionality restored within 48 hours after firewall failure.