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Case study: Westphalian University

"IDS has proven to be a reliable partner for securing sophisticated systems."
Dipl.-Phys. Hans-Georg Gohr, IT Manager at the Westphalian University of Applied Sciences


Westphalian University

3 locations, 8 departments, More than 50 courses of study, 10,000 students

The Westphalian University of Applied Sciences offers more than 50 Bachelor's and Master's degree programs at its three locations in Gelsenkirchen, Bocholt and Recklinghausen. As a member of the university alliance 'Ruhrvalley,' Westphalian University has been a significant force for innovation and technology in the Ruhr region since 2016.

 

The case

For a long time, the Westphalian University of Applied Sciences has successfully operated three Cisco Firewall Service Module (FWSM) clusters of the Catalyst series from the early 2000s in active/standby mode. The modules are used to virtualize 20 firewalls and are necessary for daily operations. As part of the central security cluster, the constant operation of the systems is paramount.
In 2018, Inter Data Systems took over a large part of the Westphalian University's systems as its maintenance partner.
In the summer of 2020, one of the firewall service modules experienced a failure. The IDS Technical Assistance Center (TAC) solved the emergency with the assistance of our technical department.
During the troubleshooting process, it was determined that the hardware and the associated licenses needed to be replaced. Due to the age of the device, the relicensing of replacement hardware with existing licenses from the manufacturer was unfortunately not possible and was ruled out as a solution.

Our advantage

We procured a replacement device and the associated licenses through our international contacts. Furthermore, we configured the device with the software provided by Westphalian University so that only the physical exchange was necessary on-site. The system could then be seamlessly put back into operation.

Thanks to the networking capabilities and extensive know-how of IDS TAC, the entire case, including international procurement, was settled within a short time to the customer's full satisfaction.