Security Assessment Overview
NRTC Smart Care Service
together with Cisco Services
Combining the Strengths of Cisco and NRTC to Protect Your Network
through the Power of Collaboration
NRTC Network Security Assessments
The NRTC Smart Care Service together with Cisco Services proactively verifies
that your network security services are up to date and functioning optimally at all
times, helping you to better protect your business from network threats, improve
network availability and performance, and enhance the productivity and
operational efficiency of your employees.
Realizing More Value from the Business Network
Avoiding network security issues is essential to preserving the performance, availability, and
reliability of your business network and to supporting the employees and customers who
depend on your network every day. Without the proper protection, your network is vulnerable
to viruses, worms, denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, and other internal and external threats that
can degrade network performance and compromise the integrity and privacy of sensitive data.
Even a single security breach can lead to network downtime, lost revenues, and loss of
customer trust. To protect themselves, many businesses have deployed security devices and
services throughout their networks. However, for these defenses to remain effective, you
need to make sure that all of your security solutions are continuously up to date and performing
optimally, which can consume significant IT resources. Now you can take advantage of a
proactive, cost-effective network security monitoring and maintenance solution.
The NRTC Smart Care Service, delivered through collaboration between Cisco and NRTC,
provides proactive, periodic assessments of your network security systems to better protect
your network and your ongoing business profitability. These assessments are provided as part
of an all-encompassing network maintenance and support service that combines networkwide
technical support with ongoing network monitoring and proactive maintenance to deliver a
comprehensive approach to the care and continuous improvement of your network. With this
collaborative service offering, which combines the complementary strengths of Cisco and
NRTC, you can increase your visibility into the health and security of your network, improve
network security and reliability, identify potential problems before they affect your business,
and reduce the time and effort necessary to maintain your network.
The NRTC Smart Care Service and its IP voice assessments are delivered by NRTC together
with Cisco, allowing NRTC to draw on powerful tools and in-depth training from Cisco, including
advanced Cisco certification in IP voice technologies, to support your network. Through this
model, NRTC can provide proactive, comprehensive support and maintenance for all of your
Cisco network and IP voice solutions in a manner that is tailored specifically for your business.
Security Assessment Overview
Protecting Your Network
Your business may be using a variety of sophisticated Cisco security technologies, including:
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Cisco PIX® Security Appliances
Cisco adaptive security appliance (ASA) solutions
Cisco intrusion prevention system (IPS)/intrusion detection system (IDS) solutions
Cisco VPN solutions
Cisco IOS® Software - based security services (firewall, IPS, VPN termination) provided through the operating systems on
your Cisco routers and Cisco Catalyst® Switches
While these security solutions offer extraordinary capabilities to defend your network against potential threats, they can only deliver
their full value if they are configured properly and continuously kept up to date. For example, you may use state-of-the-art IPS
technologies to protect against network intrusions, but if your IPS systems are configured incorrectly or using outdated attack
signature files, they may offer little help against some types of network attacks. While your IT staff may be very skilled at supporting
your business applications, they may not have the most up-to-date resources or expertise to determine if your Cisco security
solutions are configured optimally. In addition, performing ongoing maintenance on your network security solutions may not be the
most productive use of their time.
As part of the NRTC Smart Care Service, NRTC draws on exhaustive training and state-of-the-art Cisco diagnostic tools to perform
periodic security assessments of your network. These assessments encompass a thorough evaluation of every Cisco router,
switch, and Cisco security solution in your network to help ensure that all devices are configured optimally, according to Cisco best
practices for secure networking, and are using the most up-to-date software and attack signature files.The assessments examine
the configuration of your network in multiple areas, including.
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Password encryption and management to prevent unauthorized access to your devices
Flood management to help ensure that distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks cannot overrun your network devices and
paralyze your network.
Access control to help ensure that unauthorized users cannot gain control of your devices
Security of network management and monitoring protocols
Security of remote network management services operating over the Internet or other untrusted networks
Logging of network and security events
Secure IP routing
Unnecessary services that may be running on your devices that could be exploited by attackers
If a security assessment reveals that your network is not configured optimally, NRTC can alert you to the problem and remediate it,
often remotely. As a result, you can proactively address potential security flaws before they have the opportunity to can damage
your business.
Preserving the Value of Security Solutions
After you have verified that your network security solutions are properly configured and up to date, you need to make sure that these
network defenses are protected and performing optimally at all times. After all, your business network is a dynamic environment, in
which new technologies and applications can affect the security of your network in unforeseen ways. With the NRTC Smart Care
Service, NRTC maintains a clear, continuously updated picture of all of the devices in your network and provides ongoing security
monitoring of all of your Cisco devices and security systems. If your network defenses recognize a threat, NRTC can alert you and
help you take corrective actions to address the issue. You can even review the ongoing status of your network security systems (as
well as the overall health of your network) through an online dashboard provided by NRTC. As a result, you can improve the
operational efficiency of your in-house IT staff, gain greater peace of mind that your network and data are protected at all times, and
get the most from your Cisco technology investments.
Customized Support and Maintenance
The NRTC Smart Care Service is customized specifically for you, to give you just the right level of network service to support the
size and complexity of your business. In addition to comprehensive support and ongoing monitoring and maintenance of your
network and security systems.
By combining NRTC personalized service and in-depth understanding of your business with industry-leading tools, training, and
resources from Cisco, you gain a consistently excellent service experience that addresses all of your requirements throughout the
lifecycle of your network.
Business Benefits
The proactive network security assessments encompassed within the NRTC Smart Care Service provide the following benefits:
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Increase visibility into the overall health and availability of your network and security solutions and provide you with the
information you need to efficiently manage and continually improve them
Security Assessment Overview
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Improve the uptime, security, and performance of your business network through ongoing monitoring and periodic
assessments of your network defenses that allow you to address problems before they affect your business
Improve the operational efficiency of your IT staff through proactive network support and maintenance that keep your network
and security systems running optimally at all times
Enhance your employee productivity and your customer responsiveness through improved availability of your network-based
applications and reduced risk of a security-related outage
Optimize your business profitability by helping you get the most from your network and security investments
Simplify your contract management and maintenance through a network support and maintenance service that covers all of
your Cisco devices - including Cisco Unified Communications IP voice technologies - with a single service contract
Combine the expertise and service advantages of both Cisco and NRTC into a single offering
An Intelligent Technology Evolution Path
NRTC offers the NRTC Smart Care Service, as well as other innovative Cisco solutions, as part of the Cisco Smart Business
Roadmap. The Cisco Smart Business Roadmap provides a structured, prioritized evolution path for growing companies that
combines customized technology solutions, world-class service, and flexible financing options to help you keep pace with change
and make more informed technology decisions. The Smart Business Roadmap improves the long-term competitiveness of your
business by helping you to address the business challenges of today while maximizing the future potential of your technology
investments. With most technology providers, the relationship ends after the sale. When you invest in Cisco and NRTC, you can be
confident that they are working continuously to expand the capabilities of your technologies and services and extend the value of
your investment.
Delivering More Value from Your Technology Investments
With so much depending on the network tools and applications your employees use every day, you need to make sure that your
network is secure, reliable, and performing optimally at all times. Now, you can take advantage of a comprehensive service offering
that periodically evaluates your network security systems, provides proactive checkups of your overall network health and
availability, and delivers ongoing monitoring and technical support for your entire Cisco network with a single service contract. With
NRTC continually monitoring and proactively protecting your network and security solutions, you can increase your visibility into
your network, enhance the operational efficiency of your internal IT resources, improve the reliability and performance of your
network-based applications, and extend the value of your Cisco technology investments.
Ordering and Additional Information
For more information about the NRTC Smart Care Service, contact NRTC.
For More Information about NRTC Smart Care Services, contact us today at.
NRTC 301-429-8842
info@NetworkResourceTech.com
Web: www.NetworkResourceTech.com
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