Cisco ASA NGFW for University Data Center and Disaster Recovery Sites

When Victoria University of Wellington experiences an earthquake, it needs consistent security policies and simplified operations to protect data and maintain uptime. The university’s Information Technology Services team used Cisco firewall geo-clustering technology to build safeguards and security into its network and technology environment. Challenges

• Link campus data center with mirrored disaster recovery site
• Help ensure high availability of data centers in earthquake-prone region
• Streamline operations, security policies, reduce IT costs to support academic community
• University campus lobby

Solutions

• Cisco next-generation firewalls with geo-clustering paired with refreshed Cisco data center
• Two business professionals talk on a park bench

Products and Services Security • Cisco ASA 5585-S40 Next Generation Firewalls Data Center • Cisco Nexus® 7000 9-Slot Switch • Cisco Nexus 5510 Switch • Cisco Nexus 5548UP Switch • Cisco Catalyst® 3750 Switch • Cisco Catalyst 2960 Series Switches Routers • Cisco ASR 9010 Router • Cisco ASR 9006 Router • Cisco ASR 1002 Router Network Management • Cisco 5508 Wireless Controllers Results

• Helped enable consolidation of multisite data center policies that are easy to set up and use
• Facilitated data center redundancy to ensure high availability in earthquake-prone area
• Lowered cost of ownership by 20%

"With the geo-clustered configuration, the team was able to manage hundreds of applications all in-house, and easily share security policies." - Simon Warren, Senior Networking Engineer, Victoria University of Wellington