July 11, 2002: The National Council of the Medical Association, an important component of the French health system, has successfully deployed Nokia IP network security appliances internationally from its head office in Paris. The Nokia appliances combine software from global partner Check Point Software Technologies (Nasdaq:CHKP). The centralised project aims to protect access to its Intranet, which acts as the Council’s key data processing tool.
The network includes 130 sites of varying complexity – ranging from a single works station up to a local network of almost 20 works stations. As the Intranet enables access to all the Council’s data processing applications, the Council required this access to be reliable and secure.
Two redundant high-end Nokia IP650 network appliances, pre-installed with market-leading VPN-1®/FireWall-1® software from Check Point Software Technologies, were successfully deployed. Installation was simple and quick, as the Nokia IP network security appliances are supplied already integrated, pre-configured and tested and offer an integrated management tool, Nokia Voyager, which has a user-friendly user interface. Easy and rapid set-up meant that the Council was able to ensure that its applications were Intranet-accessible for its county and regional users in a short period of time.
The reliability of the Nokia solution was a deciding factor for the Council. “The Intranet carries a substantial amount of traffic on a 24-hour basis and it was essential for the security solution to be perfectly reliable. The Nokia solution met our stringent requirements,” explains Mr Patrick Aucher, Information System Manager, The National Council of the Medical Association.
“The Nokia operating system, IPSO, is similar to Unix, and our data processing service had Unix skills. Using the appliances was all the more easy, as we didn’t need to use valuable resources retraining our staff. In addition, the Nokia Patented IP Clustering technology designed for network high availability was very impressive and the return on investment of the Nokia IP network security appliances also impressed us tremendously, along with the service from their specialist integrator, Axipe,” notes Mr Aucher. “Axipe organised a dedicated security team for the project.”
The Nokia solution is scalable for current and future traffic. New projects include connecting the Council permanently to the 360 existing French pharmaceutical laboratories, thereby significantly increasing Intranet throughput.
“Nokia takes security very seriously. It is our aim to provide seamless, scalable and secure solutions to all types of organisations worldwide. The cost versus return ratio is also priority to us for customer satisfaction. Using Nokia security solutions as the backbone of IT security policy provides a very high return on investment,” adds Ernie Jones, VP Sales EMEA, Nokia Internet Communications.
About CNOM/The French Medical Council
The Council of the Medical Association is a private body with a public service remit, with a multi-tieredtructure of local councils per county, regional councils and a national council in Paris. It has three main objectives : As a legal court, it rules on disputes between doctors and between doctors and patients. The Council additionally manages the national register of doctors with 220,000 doctors registered, 180,000 of whom are active. The Council also fulfils the role of consultative body with, for example, the National Assembly and the Senate during discussions on bills and the General Directorate for Health on a large number of French health-related concerns.
About Axipe
AXIPE is a specialist in the IT security market, enabling national and international companies to conduct secure communications and E-commerce transactions via private and public networks. AXIPE offers a broad range of security products and services from leading manufacturers and include applications such as firewall systems, PKI, virus protection, authentication, content security, VPN, intrusion detection, and security administration. Spectrum services range from consulting, risk analysis and security concepts to implementation and system integration as well as technical support contracts. AXIPE technology partners include : ActivCard, Alteon, Baltimore, CacheFlow, Check Point, Cisco, F5 Networks, F-Secure, Finjan, ISS, Nokia, Packeteer, Qualys, Redline Networks, RSA Security, StoneSoft, Trend Micro, Websense
Nokia
Nokia is the world leader in mobile communications. Backed by its experience, innovation, user-friendliness and secure solutions, the company has become the leading supplier of mobile phones and a leading supplier of mobile, fixed broadband and IP networks. By adding mobility to the Internet Nokia creates new opportunities for companies and further enriches the daily lives of people. Nokia is a broadly held company with listings on six major exchanges.
Nokia Internet Communications
Nokia Internet Communications, headquartered in Mountain View,California, provides world-class Network security, Virtual Private Network and Internet Traffic and Content Management solutions that ensure the security and reliability of corporate enterprise and managed service provider networks. Nokia is committed to enhancing the end user experience by bringing a new level of security and reliability to the network, enabling an Internet transaction that is personal and trusted-each and every time.
For more information, please visit www.nokia.com and click on Secure Network Solutions. Nokia Internet security and virtual private network appliances span the spectrum of price/performance points, and secure the widest range of network environments-from the smallest branch office to the largest Internet data center. The expansive product line, backed by world-class global support and services, provides customers the ability to deploy multiple solutions from a single product to secure all elements of a distributed enterprise.
For more information (Media and Industry Analysts only please):
Nokia Internet Communications:
Americas (California based)
Amy Grenier, Interactive Public Relations for Nokia Internet Communications
Tel. + 1 415 391 1106 x227
Email: amy@ipri.com
EMEA (UK based)
Claire Backhurst
Tel. +44 7788 145460
Email: claire.backhurst@nokia.com
APAC (Singapore based)
Bonnie Datta
Tel. +6567231046
Email: bonnie.datta@nokia.com
www.nokia.com
CNOM
Patrick Aucher
Tel. +33 1 53 89 33 06 or +33 1 53 89 32 19
Email : aucher.patrick@cn.medecin.fr
Axipe
Fanny Van Heem
Tel. 01 55 58 17 40
Email: fvanheems@axipe.com