A security shield for IT media services
DIGITIMES deploys SSL VPN solution with BILLION BiGuard S6000
Boosting remote access database security and project productivity

Professional media services for the electronics and information industries
Jointly founded by leading Taiwanese technology companies, DIGITIMES Inc. began publishing the world’s first daily Chinese technology newspaper (DIGITIMES) in April 1998. Integrating a variety of professional services covering online databases, professional event planning/implementation, industry/market researches and etc, DIGITIMES offers comprehensive B2B media, marketing and consulting services. Today, the DIGITIMES portfolio includes the following products and services: DIGITIMES, Enterprise IT Weekly, Chinese and English DIGITIMES websites, DIGITIMES membership, Research and integrated marketing events. The company’s overseas branches cover several regions including U.S. Silicon Valley, Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong, Since its inception, DIGITIMES has always strived to keep the technologically savvy sharp and up to date on the industry, technology, market, products, and applications. At the same time, DIGITIMES has endeavored to deliver comprehensive intelligence and marketing services that are timely, objective, professional and in-depth to clients in order to provide the key information that investors need to make better informed decisions.

"The introduction of BILLION's BiGuard S6000 coupled with the OTP device will solve the security issues with remote access that we have had in the past while dramatically reducing the costs of maintenance for backend system support. It is not only simple and convenient to use, the SSL VPN connection capacity can also be upgraded to lower hardware investment costs and improve employees' productivity. It is a very cost-effective solution." Roger Cheng, Manager of Supporting Department, DIGITIMES.

Key factors to the introduction of BILLION BiGuard SSL VPN

According to Roger Cheng, DIGITIMES had been looking for remote access solutions a couple of years ago and evaluated solutions from several brands in the market, some of which featured networking equipment by world-renowned manufacturers. But after considering the company’s actual requirements in many areas, and a month of field-tests and relevant analyses, DIGITIMES went for Billion’s BiGuard S6000 SSL VPN Security Gateway. Roger emphasized, “The mobile office is the latest trend; due to the rapid distribution of information, remote access not only helps DIGITIMES improve its competitiveness but it also satisfies the requirement for the company’s future growth. Apart from its security, we have chosen to purchase BiGuard S6000 mainly for its fair price, ease of use, simple interface and scalability.”

Support for internal application system
DIGITIMES takes great pride in the assets it has accumulated over the past decade, which includes a vast database containing massive amounts of news information, industry analysis reports, graphs, financial data, client database and advertisements. Roger Cheng pointed out, “All these data have been stored in our database and the internal application system. During the evaluation of different SSL VPN equipment from the providers, we paid close attention on their support for secure remote access service. After actual testing, we found that BiGuard SSL VPN-S6000 allowed us to support connections for internal application systems while sales representatives and the senior management could connect to the company from home and search for files or confidential data. Convenience is another factor that led us to choose the BiGuard S6000 SSL VPN Security Gateway from BILLION.”

3-in-1 DUAL-WAN Solution for speedy Gigabit data transmission
Roger Cheng further noted that the greatest selling point of BILLION’s BiGuard S6000 is its integration of SSL VPN encryption technology, firewall and router functionalities into a single device. With it, the company does not have to purchase additional network equipment for IT personnel to manage all connections and remote access. In addition, BiGuard S6000 SSL VPN Security Gateway comes with two built-in WAN ports, which enable distribution of external traffic through two lines to achieve load balance. Furthermore, it also offers fast data transmission through Gigabit connectivity.

Benefits

Roger Cheng continued, “The BiGuard S6000 SSL VPN Security Gateway from BILLION is just the right product that will address our issues of remote access security. Our MIS personnel, sales representatives and senior management may now securely access the company’s database from their homes at any time and make better use of data resources to achieve maximum economic benefits.”

Improvement in project management efficiency
DIGITIMES’ sales managers stationed in overseas branches such as Shanghai and U.S. often had to work closely with their colleagues at the Taipei headquarters. As such, through secure SSL VPN remote access and without the need for client software, DIGITIMES’ staffs were able to easily monitor project progress at any time to improve customer satisfaction. The BiGuard S6000 delivers outstanding performance with stability. Most importantly, it supports various operating systems, browsers and mobile devices such as PDAs and smart phones to significantly reduce workload for MIS personnel with backend system support at a lower cost for introduction. With the BiGuard S6000 in place, the only task remaining for MIS personnel is to periodically check on the access logs. Apart from that, the BiGuard 6000 is also capable of integrating multiple group accounts from existing AD servers without having to recreate them one-by-one, so that IT personnel may save time and manage user accounts with ease.

SSL VPN connection scalability lowers investment costs
As the BiGuard S6000 supports SSL VPN Tunnel Upgrades, 50 concurrent users may be upgraded to 200 via optional licensing without requiring additional hardware. The introduction of the BiGuard 6000 solution caters to the required scalability for secure remote access and it is also compatible with DIGITIMES’ existing network architecture. Its three-in-one design that integrates a router, firewall and SSL VPN with support for IPSec VPN technology and 30 IPSec VPN tunnels ensures painless introduction while lowering hardware investment costs.

Secure and easy-to-use interface
The BiGuard S6000 from BILLION comes with a simple, user-friendly web-based management interface in Chinese to simplify the task of configuration. With it, IT personnel may configure access permissions for different users according to the company’s security policies and provide SSL VPN access at different levels, such as the Network Extender and Transport Extender. Roger Cheng added that the BiGuard S6000 also offers a simple alternative for users in that it allows a direct connection without having to provide an account and password through its built-in standalone application.

OTP two-factor authentication to strengthen security levels
Roger Cheng stated, “Strengthening remote access security was our top priority when we introduced SSL VPN. BILLION’s BiGuard S6000 SSL VPN Security Gateway is compatible with OTP devices; the user can obtain a six-digit, one-time password by pressing the OTP button. Coupled with the original static password, we achieve two-factor authentication when logging on to the company network remotely through SSL VPN. This offered improved security levels while keeping the operation relatively simple. This is why we have purchased five BiGuard OTP devices to be used by senior management. In the future, we will incorporate SSL VPN application to the company’s HR salary system and it will eliminate the need to purchase costly authentication servers and prevent the risk of password theft to protect the company’s intranet resources from intrusion.”

SSL VPN applications

BILLION’s BiGuard S6000 SSL VPN Security Gateway features a number of access applications such as Network Extender, Transport Extender, My Network Places and Application Proxy. With the Network Extender function, DIGITIMES’ MIS personnel may access and update the company’s information system or make modification to programs at home; sales representatives and senior management may also search for company data without having to travel to the office; users can remotely access the database system, web application platform, file servers and HR salary system.