Harland & Wolff

Trade

Harland & Wolff has installed FortiGate as the main IT security component in its newly revamped IT Infrastructure at its shipyard. H&W’s reorganised business offers its marine customers a range of services including construction, consultancy and detailed engineering. Business & Scientific Services, (BSS), its technology partner, was responsible for the specification and installation of the security perimeter using FortiGate as the core security tool.

BSS senior pre-sales consultant Kieran Kelly said: “H&W have gone through a major reorganisation and investment programme and a corresponding reorganisation of its IT strategy. Previously, management of the IT Infrastructure was outsourced but, following the success of the business reorganisation, the company decided to take the task of managing its IT.”

H&W runs a sophisticated IT infrastructure to support its global contractors. BSS was engaged to draw up an infrastructure optimisation roadmap that would provide a three-year development programme.

BSS advised H&W to install a tailored Defence In Depth solution which uses multiple systems to resist attackers. Implementing ForitGate at the perimeter level, BSS implemented a multi-engine AV product on the server and a managed protection agent at the desktop level.

“We installed Gigabyte perimeter security with anti-virus using FortiGate, but we also needed to ensure that the subcontractors were able to route outside the network without compromising the core connectivity or creating bottlenecks,” said Kelly. “Using the flexible FortiGate equipment, this was successfully achieved without compromising security.”

BSS installed a FortiGate 3000AHD at the core and then FortiGate 50As on all outlying and remote sites in the shipyard.

Robert McIlwaine, IS manager with H&W, said: “The data used by the subcontractors in the shipyard is highly sensitive and we could not afford to contemplate possible breaches. The Defence in Depth solution headlined with the FortiGate equipment suits our needs perfectly.”

He added: “In addition, we have at the same time managed to reduce our hardware footprint and have increased productivity as a result. Everything is controlled through a central box, which gives us confidence and visibility of our network at all times.”

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