Nokia Guards Arizona State University Network

August 27, 2002 -- Network solution developer Nokia (Nokia.com) announced on Monday that the Arizona State University has chosen Nokia’s IP network security appliances integrating Check Point Software Technologies’ VPN-1/FireWall-1 software.

With more than 50,000 students, ASU is one of the largest public universities in the country. The University has approximately 20 appliances deployed in multiple facilities at four campuses, standardizing the Nokia platform across all of its academic and administrative departments.

Before deploying the Nokia solution, ASU operated a server-based solution using general-purpose UNIX operating systems. The approach, says Nokia, was difficult to manage and scale due to its complexities.

"Servers are not designed for security, and that makes them difficult to configure, operate and maintain," stated Jack Hsu, manager of systems network management at ASU. "We evaluated a Nokia IP Series security appliance with Check Point VPN-1/FireWall-1 software for one week and were very pleased with the inherent security and remarkable ease of use of this purpose-built platform."

A leading research and technical center, ASU employs a fairly open policy on access to information. The University’s requirements, says Nokia, included a capability for setting different security policies for various departments and applications. Using the Nokia solution, the school can deliver customized firewall and VPN solutions to individual departments as a managed service while maintaining centralized control.