Case Study - Character Options

Character Options overcome Internet threats with Zen

Character Options designs, develops and internationally distributes toys and games as part of The Character Group plc, probably best known for their Robosapien and Doctor Who range of products. The Group now has offices in London, Manchester, Hong Kong and China, and employs over 230 people.

The Challenge

Character Options was experiencing problems with Internet viruses and found themselves at a stage where it was becoming necessary to look at outsourcing the management of their network security to a dedicated security specialist. Character Options also had issues tracking Internet usage and wanted the ability to manage and monitor internet access.

The Solution

After determining Character Options requirements Zen's team of accredited network consultants designed a bespoke security solution using Fortinet's range of Unified Threat Management (UTM) security devices. Fortinet are the market leaders for appliance based Internet security and their range of UTM devices provide the ideal antidote for businesses looking for complete protection from Internet threats such as viruses, Malware and Spam.

Zen's recommended network security solution added resilience to Character Options existing desktop AntiVirus protection and provided the additional benefit of Internet access control and Internet usage monitoring.

The Benefits

Zen's pre-sales consultants configured the security solution to integrate seamlessly into the Character Options IT network, all Character Options IT department had to do was plug it in.

Day-to-day management and maintenance was provided by Zen's team of accredited security experts so Character Options didn't need to spend time or money developing their own team of security experts to look after their new security platform.

The new network security solution complemented Character Options existing desktop anti-virus solution and provided additional protection against viruses, spyware, intrusion attempts or spam. The ability to track Internet usage and restrict access to prohibited sites has improved productivity and has freed up broadband bandwidth for the benefit of all users.

Dave Hindle, IT Manager at Character Group, commented:

Before we adopted Zen's managed security service our level of network protection was ineffective against blended Internet threats. Zen's managed service has enabled us to address and remedy these concerns and we now have complete confidence in the reliability and security of our network.

The provided FortiGate device delivers improved Internet protection and is the ideal companion to the desktop security software that we currently use. The included Web content filtering service has also proved invaluable as we can now monitor unacceptable use of the Internet."