Muswellbrook Shire Council, in regional New South Wales employs 160 Full Time Equivalent staff, of which 100 utilise computers for all aspects of office operations. Over the recent years the council has successfully implemented more flexible working options for many of its staff and with the Endian Unified Threat Management (UTM) software, is confident to continue offering this to staff and external vendors.
Muswellbrook Shire Council has many roles, from waste collection and roads maintenance to planning for the Shire’s economic viability into the future. Their computer network is used for many functions including GIS, project management, finance, administration and document recording. Robust and reliable security is crucial in an environment of this nature.
The previously used hardware firewall device was slow, not configurable and did not support features such as content filtering and VPN.
According to Muswellbrook Shire Council Information Services Manager Josh Pryor, they were very limited with capabilities in the old system, and particularly were not in a position to confidently and securely allow staff and external vendors remote access to the council network.
“With the old device we were not in a position to be able to offer staff flexible working solutions, which was very restrictive in terms of overtime and fast response to emergencies. Additionally, we frequently had external vendors who requested access to our network and although we hesitantly allowed this it was very awkward. We were not entirely comfortable with the security aspect so tended not to allow it unless absolutely necessary” commented Mr Pryor.
Muswellbrook Shire Council needed to find a security solution that allowed them to increase the number of staff working outside the office with flexible work options and securely be able to allow external vendors to dial into council’s network when necessary. This solution needed to be configurable, easy to use, simple to administer and offer features such as content filtering, firewall, anti spam and of course the VPN.
Due to reliability, the open source nature, ease of use and the ability to deploy secure Virtual Private Networks (VPN) Muswellbrook Shire Council chose the Endian UTM software edition to load onto their own hardware and had this installed in August 2009.
Virtual Private Networks were important for Muswellbrook Shire and according to Mr Pryor they are increasingly finding ways to utilise this function to the organisations benefit.
“We seem to be finding more and more applications for the Endian’s VPN feature as time goes on. It started as a means for IT staff to administer systems and look after problems from home after hours, and it extended to providing a means for other staff to work overtime without being on site. We then found it useful to provide injured workers with the ability to continue working, which is very important from a rehabilitation point of view” said Mr Pryor.
“We were not able to offer these working options at all with our previous system, the Endian VPN feature opened this up to us” added Mr Pryor.
According to Veritech CEO Livio Mazzon the Endian software edition was a strategically brilliant choice for Muswellbrook Shire Council.
"Endian UTM Software is based on the same technology that resides in the Endian UTM hardware appliances. However, the software edition offers the choice to use your own hardware, and turn any PC into a full-featured security appliance. Endian designed their system to meet the needs of any business, from small to large. The beauty of the software edition is that as your business (or Council) grows, you can keep increasing the capacity and power of the underlying hardware," said Mr Mazzon.
For details on Muswellbrook Shire Council visit www.muswellbrook.nsw.gov.au
For details on the Endian range visit www.endian.com.au
For details on Veritech Corporation visit www.veritechcorp.com.au
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