The Cost of Building Vs the Cost of a Managed Service

The Issue

A high profile government organisation had set a goal of significantly increasing their internet presence. To achieve this they believed that they where going to have to implement a new network security infrastructure. The design and costing prepared by external consultants indicated that the basic infrastructure required would cost in excess of $140,000 to purchase and install. The three-year ongoing operational and support costs were not identified and this was causing significant concern to management.

The organisation approached DMZGlobal to investigate if a managed service could be a cost effective alternative and if there were other technologies that could be of benefit.

The Solution

DMZGlobal's Senior Security Consultants reviewed the operational and service requirements of the organisation. Their existing firewall was back level and was not a recognised industry leading type. Also noted was the lack of strategy in the organisations anti-virus environment, significantly exposing the organisation to unnecessary risk.

DMZGlobal designed a solution incorporating a high-speed DMZInternet with DMZMessaging to provide a secure, firewalled connection to the Internet. These services use leading technologies from vendors such as Check Point, Trend Micro, Cisco and RSA, and are managed and secured 24 hours a day. The services are charged on a flat rate basis and include all Internet traffic meaning a predictable monthly bill for the client.

The Outcome

When the client compared the cost of designing and implementing their own solution with that of the managed service they realised that there was significant benefits to the alternate approach. Not only were costs over three years lower, the solution was state-of-the-art and offered significant features not considered in the original design including:

• Virus protection
• Spam protection
• Intrusion detection

When these factors were combined with 24x7 security and availability management, the predictability of flat fee charge that include all Internet traffic, and the benefit of future-proofing as DMZGlobal undertakes all equipment and software upgrades as part of the service, the client was satisfied that DMZGlobal's managed service was the best answer.