Versa Secure SD-WAN provides security to the vulnerable financial services sector
According to a report by Accenture, almost eight out of 10 business leaders believe that they are adopting new technologies faster than they can address related security issues.
It also estimates that nearly $350-billion (over R5-trillion) of value could be lost by the global banking sector to cyber-crime in the next five years.
In an article written by Lutfey Siddiqi (Visiting Professor-in-Practice, London School of Economics and Political Science), entitled Why cyber-risk should take centre stage in financial services, on the World Economic Forum’s site, it was stated that: “Unfortunately, cyber-risk is here to stay. The sooner we can adopt a shared language, a convergent framework and an elevated awareness of this risk, the better prepared we will be to strengthen our defence against and resilience to this risk.”
“Versa Networks’ Secure SD-WAN helps to tackle the security issues endemic to the financial services sector. Examples of this include its deployment in US Bank Capital One, multinational investment bank and financial services company Barclays Bank, and financial services technology provider Fiserv, which processes 90% of credit card transactions globally,” said Andre Kannemeyer, CTO for local Versa distributors, Duxbury Networking.
Capital One
Capital One is one of the largest banks in the US, serving 45 million customers. They embarked on a digital transformation strategy to modernise their infrastructure for their retail banks so that services were more reliable and secure.
Objectives included combining their Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) with low-cost broadband for reliable and secure guest Wi-Fi and to support new technologies, and shortening network provisioning time for new branches.
“Some of the applications are business-critical and maintaining strict segmentation across the WAN was also crucial. Finally, Capital One needed better visibility of their network traffic to understand application consumption,” said Kannemeyer.
“Since deploying Versa’s Secure SD-WAN technology the banks have experienced reliable and secure connectivity, with an increased number of services being delivered in the branch, with better visibility and analytics.”
Capital One has deployed approximately 1200 CPEs (Customer Premises Equipment) across locations mostly in the US. They have achieved a 900% increase in bandwidth, with a 50% reduction in branch devices, a 100% improvement in site availability and 20 times faster site activation.
Barclays
After defining a project to consolidate branch office devices and a requirement for affordable, increased bandwidth, Barclays tested the SD-WAN market before selecting Versa.
A deployment to hundreds of sites across the Barclays global network saw a 50% reduction in branch devices, and an improved WAN architecture delivered a 900% increase in bandwidth, with a 100% improvement in site availability.
“Importantly, Versa also delivered greatly improved visibility into the performance of the underlay and of the new overlay. Further benefits include rapid site activation and secure, optimised cloud access. Key to Versa’s success is the integration of advanced routing capabilities, the per application QOS (quality of service), and the in-built security,” said Kannemeyer.
Fiserv
After reviewing the market, Versa was selected for a Secure SD-WAN deployment across Fiserv’s corporate offices, with the initial roll-out spread across 400 locations in North America, EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) and APAC (Asia-Pacific).
“Fiserv wanted to migrate from expensive dual MPLS links to single MPLS with internet, then finally internet only. This raised concerns over the performance and security of a new-look network, with the security consideration going beyond the attack surface at the branch and datacentres, and requiring total confidence in the Versa control plane and management plane. Smooth integration into brown field locations was high on the agenda and was addressed by Versa’s advanced routing capabilities,” said Kannemeyer.
Other requirements that Versa met include scalability, and secure, optimised cloud access. Fiserv also took advantage of Versa’s ability to be deployed on low-cost, off-the-shelf hardware to maximise the return on investment.
“Fiserv are a delighted customer who regularly speak on Versa’s behalf, and a further 50 000 client sites are in consideration for an extended deployment,” said Kannemeyer.
For more information contact Duxbury Networking, +27 (0) 11 351 9800, [email protected], www.duxbury.co.za
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