Application Hosting - Credibility and Availability

The Issue

The decision to move to online client reporting is a significant one for any organisation. When you are one of your country's leading electricity generators and retailers the challenges of doing it right, and the consequences of doing it wrong are huge.

With the application software almost written the electricity supplier went to market for a web hosting provider. On paper the criteria looked simple enough the system would have to be accessible 24x7 and would have to protect the confidentiality and integrity of their client data and of the back-end systems to which the application connected.

The Solution

DMZGlobal's Senior Security Consultants reviewed the application's requirements and quickly ascertained that our security infrastructure, including advanced firewalling, intrusion detection and application monitoring fitted well with what was being described.

In addition it was apparent that DMZGlobal's operational expertise, including application testing, change management and application and operating systems patching and upgrade, would be crucial if the overall solution was going to reach the target availability requirement.

A solution was proposed that would see the client's application run on dedicated application servers at DMZGlobal. In parallel to these production servers identical test servers would operate to provide a platform to fully evaluate any issue, change or new release of software. Connectivity to the client's back-end system would be provided via a dedicated high-speed data circuit, with network redundancy provided via an ISDN connection.

DMZGlobal's SBX (Secure Business Exchange) would provide diverse and redundant paths to the Internet for enhanced availability, and all security and operational issues would be managed 24x7 by the DMZGlobal operations centre. This would provide the client with a turn-key solution, fully managed on an ongoing basis.

In addition, the DMZGlobal team believed that it was important that they work with the application developer as the software completed development and worked through testing to ensure that the common mistakes that make applications vulnerable to exploitation were avoided.

The Outcome

When the client went to market they believed that they were looking for a hosting provider. DMZGlobal's solution went further than that, providing them with a partner who actively managed their system for availability and security. By using DMZGlobal the client gained:

• A flat cost structure that included all ongoing operational, infrastructure and Internet traffic costs
• Consultation to ensure their application was built to withstand attack and integrated into DMZGlobal's comprehensive security management framework
• Cost-effective use of an industry-leading hosting environment including advanced firewalling, intrusion detection and application monitoring
• 24x7 security and systems management by Australasia's leading operational team
  

The net outcome has been a success for both the client and DMZGlobal. The client has achieved their goal of moving their service delivery online with demonstrated security and systems availability that has exceeded 99.99% year after year. DMZGlobal gained a client that has grown to use and rely on many other services including DMZBoundary Management, DMZInternet and DMZAntiVirus to keep their business online.