SSL VPN secures firm's VoIP network: increasingly mobile workforce requires secure...

Like many companies, operations at Washington-based architectural firm

Burt Hill have become increasingly mobile. Recently, for example, Burt Hill CEO Peter Moriarty, accompanied by a client, was sitting in the Washington airport on his way to Dubai, Saudia Arabia, and was able to use the firm's virtual private network (VPN) solution via the airport's wireless network to access a just-finished animation of a 3D design model. He also used the VPN to place a call from the airport via his voice-over-IP (VoIP) softphone on his laptop, allowing him to review the most recent design with the client while flying over the Atlantic.

The mobile capability drew kudos for the IT team from Moriarty. "Thanks to all of you for providing us with the best tools possible to do our work and communicate with effectiveness," Moriarty penned in an e-mail to his IT staff. "I no longer even have a phone on my desk. I make all of my calls through my laptop."

Moriarty is not the only Burt Hill employee that can now communicate from anywhere via any network connection. The company has moved to a complete VoIP telecommunication infrastructure, built on its Cisco network, putting a softphone on more than half of the desktops and laptops in the company. Using the VoIP solution with the secure socket layer (SSL) VPN gives employees a "virtual secure office" for all data and voice applications.

In doing so, Burt Hill is at the forefront of VoIP deployments. Many companies are moving to VoIP as a replacement for traditional phone systems within the enterprise but few have deployed VoIP for communications both inside and outside the firewall. Burt Hill saw this as another way to leverage its SSL VPN solution, allowing remote employees to use the same interface to access all data and voice applications, while providing a consistent experience for all employees, wherever they work.

Burt Hill's 500-plus employees are spread out among seven U.S. and international locations. Its architects and customer-support teams work at building sites and at client premises frequently, but need to be able to access all data and communicate easily and quickly with colleagues and partners.

"We are constantly at client premises and on the road, and always collaborating with other architects, engineers, consultants and others, so we had to find a solution that provided secure access and communication for our employees," explains Mark Dietrick, Burt Hill CIO.

STRONG CAPABILITIES A PRIORITY

Five years ago, the IT team started putting together a plan to support a company of teleworkers, striving to obtain total connectivity and a flexible and powerful network infrastructure for an increasingly remote workforce. A critical part of this plan was ensuring it was based on standards. The team had already completely redefined its computing infrastructure and standardized all desktops, servers, laptops and applications, across all offices and geographies.

"Our ultimate vision as a company is to create one contiguous organization and share resources fluidly across the entire organization, irrespective of location or geography, which required strong standards and communication capabilities," Dietrick says.

As it had done with all its networking and computing work, Burt Hill turned to its strategic IT partner, SynergIT, a systems integrator and consultancy, to push the plan forward. The first step was to implement a VPN solution to provide employees with remote access to e-mail and other applications. Burt Hill decided to go with an SSL VPN solution from Aventail, deploying both a client and clientless solution, which provided the flexibility the firm needed, as well as a consistent user experience on all devices and from all network environments.

With the SSL VPN, remote workers are able to access all critical applications in real time, including Lotus Notes Domino e-mail and calendar; collaboration tools, such as project Web sites; and the many graphic-intensive applications the architects use, such as CAD, computer modeling and simulation tools. This ensures everyone on a design team has access to any drawing or presentation, as all revisions are done on a centralized file; and the design teams are able to complete designs faster, as changes can be made around the clock from any global location.

With the data piece resolved, the next major phase in the plan was voice. Burt Hill's telephone system was the one remaining part of the infrastructure not standardized. Each office had its own PBX system, with unique numbers and extensions. Not only was this a management headache, it caused a burdensome user experience, since employees had to deal with independent systems in each office. In addition, costs of landline and cellular calls, particularly long-distance calls, were reaching thousands of dollars every month.

Burt Hill chose to streamline all communications using an IP telephony backbone and to standardize on Cisco technology. In addition to the Cisco IP solution, the team updated its overall networking infrastructure with new Cisco routers and switches to maximize the VoIP performance.

UPGRADE FIXES PROBLEM

"We wanted everything to work hand-in-hand and keep our infrastructure with one vendor," says Dietrick, "so, we upgraded all Cisco routers and switch gear to work in conjunction with this new Cisco VoIP solution."

There were some issues with the initial testing of the VoIP solution with the SSL VPN. The IT team was testing it from home networks and experiencing inconsistent results, and sometimes they were unable to transmit the VoIP communication at all. The main issue was the incomplete Layer 3 tunnel connection provided by the SSL VPN vendor at the time, which only had a proxy-based network connection.

Aventail, however, had just released a new version of its platform, which included an SSL-based Layer 3 connection that enabled secure VoIP transmission via the SSL VPN. Once Burt Hill upgraded to this new version, the Cisco softphone worked fine over the SSL VPN. The updated VPN platform provides bidirectional control, so Burt Hill is ensured security and policy control over both directions of the VoIP communication.

With the VoIP solution, Burt Hill has four-digit dialing across the company, all running toll free calls on the data network. Nearly every employee has the IP Communicator softphone on laptops or desktop systems, with only a few still using desk phones, and even those are VoIP phones. The solution is closely integrated with all other network applications, such as Lotus Notes, so users have unified messaging and a single voice mailbox that they receive in their e-mail inbox. Remote users access the VoIP solution via the SSL VPN, while users in one of the offices communicate over the private WAN connection.

Dietrick estimates a conservative return on investment of 12 months for the VoIP and SSL VPN deployment. Already, the company is experiencing significant savings on telephone and long-distance charges. In addition, it received immediate soft savings in the form of productivity improvements and enhanced customer service. Global design teams are now working faster and with better coordination than before.

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