Cap Gemini Ernst & Young choose Netcool® from
NRJ for Network Security Management Centre.
NRJ Consulting
ensures that the
new Cap Gemini
Ernst & Young
Network and
Security
Management
Centre stays
Netcool® under
fire.
State of the art may be an overworked phrase
but the Network and Security Management
Centre (NSMC), created by Cap Gemini Ernst
and Young in London’s Docklands, certainly
deserves the description. The purpose built
Network and Security Management Centre
features the best network facilities management
currently on offer and the very highest levels of
security, both physical and virtual.
consulting
The Old Bank
46 High Street Egham Surrey
TW20 9EW
Tel: 01784 434315
Fax: 01784 434316
Email: sales@nrjconsulting.co.uk
www.nrjconsulting.co.uk
consulting
For many organisations the ability to
optimally operate and rapidly embrace change
is often entwined with business and technical
challenges, particularly within a 24 x 7
context. Central to these challenges is
ensuring that the current and future
connectivity needs can be fulfilled by the
network infrastructure. Furthermore, such
services have to be approached with the
desires of reducing costs, maximising the
benefit of expenditure as well as minimising
business risk.
“Our clients have been genuinely impressed
with the new facility. The flexibility and
scalability that comes through running our
solutions from the NSMC ensures we are
able to provide a truly cost effective
solution.” Ian Turner says. “We recognise
that our clients requirements change and our
services need to be able to respond quickly to
adapt to the changing business
environment”.
Exterior of the Cap Gemini Ernst & Young Network and Security
Management Centre, Docklands
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The NSMC hosts network
services for some of
Europe’s leading
enterprises and the
infrastructure developed
for this task is truly
Ian Turner, VP Networks
exceptional. “Based on our & Security, CGE&Y
experience in delivering
network and security management solutions we
wanted to create a practical, robust facility
utilising the best technology available”, says Ian
Turner, Vice President of Networks and Security
at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young.
Assisting Cap Gemini Ernst & Young
throughout the process of evaluation,
system design and implementation of the
Netcool® security solution was NRJ
Consulting, Micromuse’s preferred partner in
the UK. Founded in 1995, NRJ Consulting
specialises in assessing the management
needs of distributed enterprise networks and
designing and deploying solutions based on
business requirements.
After a competitive analysis of the available
technologies, Cap Gemini Ernst &Young
identified Netcool® for Security
Management™ produced by Micromuse as
the most appropriate security solution.
Control Room interior, NSMC
The solution collects and consolidates status data from a variety of
security devices including firewalls, intrusion detection systems and
host systems across the infrastructure to help security analysts
identify and prioritise potential threats in real-time. By correlating
system log information from a wide range of device and host
systems, analysts are also able to pinpoint the location and severity
of threats. “We are the 1st adopters of this solution in Europe
which puts us ahead of the rest in terms of the depth and breadth
of services we are able to provide our clients”. says Ian Turner.
Pete Renson, Partner with NRJ
Consulting explains the benefits
of Netcool® for Security
Management. “A typical enterprise
may receive 100,000’s of attacks a
month. A major client network
facility such as the Cap Gemini
Ernst & Young NSMC will
receive ten times that volume of
attacks and that volume is
growing. Making sense of the vast
amount of data produced by
Pete Renson, Partner,
monitored firewalls, intrusion
NRJ Consulting
detection systems (IDS), VPN
gateways and so on, is an impossible task using conventional
analysis methods. The beauty of the Netcool® solution is that it
sits above all these other detection systems and makes sense of the
data produced”.
The Netcool® application suite enables security analysts to monitor
faults on their networked devices in real-time, allowing operators in
network and security operations centres to address problems before
they cause quality of service issues. Netcool/OMNIbus™ is a
carrier-class fault and service-level management application. It
collects and consolidates real-time event, alarm, and alert
information from more than 330 security and networking
environments, and presents this as screen based information in a
point and click format. This enables pro-active management of the
entire business service delivery infrastructure. Operators can
respond to attacks that have been identified as significant in realtime.
“Many IT departments implement a firewall and think ‘that’s
security covered’, but an unmonitored firewall is useless and can
even make it easier for the skilled hacker, because it creates a false
sense of security. Yet monitoring firewalls and implementing an
additional IDS produces more data than can be analysed. Netcool®
overcomes this by sorting the meaningful from the noise”, Pete
explains.
“There is no doubt that security has become an enormous issue for
all enterprises. So called ‘script jockeys’ send out thousands of
scripts searching for unprotected IP addresses. At the same time an
IDS can respond to a valid log-on with a ‘false positive’ alert
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resulting in all or part of the network being shut down because of
an authorised user.
But along with these irritants there is the real threat of a
determined, malevolent attack. Identifying the serious viruses,
Trojan horses and worms, such as Code Red and NIMDA from
the noise is critical. Today hackers have the ability to launch
concerted, automated attacks, the nature of which can be dynamic
requiring a real-time defence. This also extends to the denial of
service attack when the hacker seeks to overwhelm a network with
an information overload. Once again only real-time analysis and
response provides a meaningful defence.”
At the Cap Gemini Ernst & Young Network and Security
Management Centre these challenges have been met by the
Netcool® implementation. “The Network and Security
The control room at the NSMC has 50 operator workstations
Management Centre went live at the beginning of September 2002
and we have been delighted by the results achieved. This centre
demonstrates our commitment to be the leaders in the network
and security management market. The work carried out by NRJ
Consulting for the Netcool® implementation has made a
significant contribution to producing this world class network and
security centre”, Ian Turner concludes.
NRJ Consulting have been delivering network
management and security solutions since 1996; in
partnership with leading network software suppliers
Micromuse, among others. For more information about
NRJ Consulting, Netcool from Micromuse, and Cap
Gemini Ernst & Young, and how they can assist your
organisation, please visit the websites below:
www.nrjconsulting.co.uk
www.micromuse.com
www.cgey.com
The Old Bank 46 High Street Egham Surrey TW20 9EW
Tel: 01784 434315 Fax: 01784 434316 Email: sales@nrjconsulting.co.uk