Network security appliances will safeguard head office and branch network traffic as part of major new IT infrastructure investment

Network security appliances will safeguard head office and branch network traffic as part of major new IT infrastructure investment

UK specialist retailer of greetings cards and related products, Clinton Cards, has installed new security firewall appliances.

The WatchGuard XTM 1050 firewalls will help to secure Clinton’s ongoing expansion and ensure high-availability communications across 800-plus stores, along with support for growing online operations. The multi-function network security appliances form part of a major investment in new IT infrastructure at Clinton Cards.

Network infrastructure coverage

The appliances have been installed at two new large Clinton Cards data centres in Woking and Docklands to handle all mobile and branch office virtual private networks (VPNs), as well as internal multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) traffic between other Clinton Cards sites. The two data centres are linked by fibre, so the WatchGuard appliances will act as a single firewall across two locations to guarantee high availability.

With 10 gigabits per second (Gbps) speed, the WatchGuard XTM 1050 appliances have also allowed Clinton Cards to consolidate its network security infrastructure by replacing firewalls at three other sites and routing traffic via the two main datacentres with secure 24-hour backup.

“With over 800 busy outlets, if connectivity is lost or slows down it can have a major impact on our business,” said Chris Hill, head IT engineer at Clinton Cards. “The new XTM 1050s give us a very reliable and seamless solution and with speed very important, we found the price and performance of the WatchGuard appliances unbeatable. They also provide the ideal platform to support our move to introduce new technologies and services that we are pioneering in our ‘stores of the future’.”

Improving access control

Clinton Cards also plans to use the application control capabilities of the WatchGuard XTM 1050s. This allows administrators to exercise fine-grained control over 1,800 applications – including social networking sites – and enforce acceptable use policies by selectively blocking or restricting access to applications based on a user's department, job function and time of day.

The WatchGuard XTM 1050s also feature advanced networking capabilities such as clustering, high availability, virtual large area network (VLAN) support, multi-wide area network (WAN) load balancing and enhanced voice-over internet protocol (VoIP) security, plus inbound and outbound hypertext transfer protocol secure (HTTPS) inspection.

“The WatchGuard appliances provide us with the solutions we need today and also offer a wide range of other capabilities that we can roll out in the future. The combination of raw power and multi-functionality certainly delivers more ‘bangs for your buck’,” Hill said.