Telford College of Arts and Technology was established originally over 100 years ago
and has a national reputation for providing excellent service with quality education
and training.
- It has over 16,000 students - 1200 full-time, 15,000 part-time
- Widest range of vocational courses in the area
- The portfolio of courses includes NVQs, professional, preparatory degree
and tailor-made programmes
- Courses combine practical skills with theoretical studies
Through the enthusiasm, commitment and dedication of the staff, the
college has thrived as a local resource providing for all sectors of the community.
TCAT has received a broad array of nationally recognised awards for excellence
including more Beacon Awards than any other college in the UK, confirming
its status as a nationally praised college.
The Telford College campus consists of 9 remote sites with ISDN connections back to
the main computer centre and 4 remote offices with leased line connections back to
the college. The College already used Cisco 1720 routers for leased line connectivity
and Cisco 801 routers for the ISDN links and were looking to improve the performance
and security of the network by using a VPN solution for every site.
Cisilion’s proposal for a VPN solution for Telford College utilised Cisco ADSL
routers at each remote site and a Cisco 3005 VPN concentrator installed in the main
computer centre. The VPN concentrator is located on the inside interface of the existing
firewall and is used to terminate the VPN connections and provide a secure interface
for each remote site.
Cisilion recommended the Cisco 837 router to provide the ADSL interface for
Internet access at each remote site. Each remote site required a DSL line installed
to allow internet connectivity. The Cisco 837 routers replaced each of the 801 routers
at the 9 sites currently using ISDN.
Cisilion upgraded the IOS version of the Cisco 1720 routers at each of the 4 leased
line sites to support ADSL/Firewall which allowed them to connect to the main site over
a VPN connection.
The new IOS on the routers allowed the creation of a secure VPN tunnel to the College
and provided access through the tunnels to the servers and services for all the remote
users. 3DES encryption is used to protect traffic passing through the VPN tunnel.
Authentication of remote VPN users is controlled using a server in the computer centre
running Active Directory. This provides authentication and authorisation services for
remote users before they are allowed access to the main office network.
By using Cisco VPN as a single security solution for remote users, the cost of
installation and configuration was greatly reduced and ROI improved.
"We looked at three companies before deciding upon Cisilion to supply and support our
VPN solution. The support we have had from Cisilion whilst implementing our VPN has
been second to none. Their technical staff know the product 'inside-out' and have resolved
all of our minor problems, whilst the very well informed sales team have kept me up-to-date
of future products and Cisilion and Cisco events".
Adrian Beckett - Computer Services Manager.
Back to Security case studies
Back to case studies
|
