UAE University secures network with Fortinet

To provide true protection against the Internet threats and other malware, UAEU was looking for a solution that would allow the migration of its is 20,000+ email users to a proactive anti-virus, anti-spam service for both its outgoing and incoming email application, with a managed service that would be easy to configure and would provide direct user interface. At the network level, the university wanted a high-performance firewall solution with multiple DMZ's.

"IT works in layers, and we are focused on providing good quality IT services and infrastructure to our end users, meaning the students and staff of the university," said Manmohan Singh, Director of Infrastructure & Core Technologies at UAE University. "We found Fortinet solutions easy and flexible to deploy. We were able to activate as many or as few applications as needed."

The university selected two FortiGate-3600A multi-threat security systems for firewalling and two FortiGate-1000A appliances to provide all the built-in network-level and content-level threat protection, icluding anti-virus, anti-spam and firewall. In addition, two FortiMail-2000A email security platforms were deployed to secure both UAEU's incoming and outgoing emails. Despite a total of over 20,000 users, many of whom are using the email services simultaneously, UAEU managed to migrate its system from a Cisco configuration to FortiMail within 36 hours with a record down time of less than 1 minute.

Hani Sultan, Security Project Manager for UAE University, added, "FortiMail has provided us with excellent results by reducing spam and viruses. Combined with the other Fortinet appliances, we feel we have more control and have succeeded in protecting the entire network from all types of Internet threats."

In addition, UAEU deployed Fortinet's FortiAnalyzer, which securely aggregates and analyzes log data from the FortiGate security appliances deployed throughout its network. FortiAnalyzer provides UAEU with real-time network log records, as well as a comprehensive report and analysis of network usage and security information, supporting its need for discovering and addressing vulnerabilities across dispersed FortiGate systems.

"Educational institutions, such as United Arab Emirates University, are particularly vulnerable to Internet threats and, at the same time, require a high level of service," said Bashar Bashaireh, Middle East Regional Manager at Fortinet. "This deployment environment proves the effectiveness and efficiency of our security products and we are proud to deliver UAEU with a scalable security solution that reduces the amount of resources needed to maintain its network - saving the university time and money towards focusing on its academic accomplishments."