NetSpective Case Studies

TeleMate.Net Delivers Communications Support for World-Class Managed Communications Provider

The Opportunity

Cypress Communications (www.cypresscom.net), based in Atlanta with 29 field offices around the country, offers managed voice, data and Internet communications to businesses located in commercial office buildings. Cypress connects more than 100,000 employees at 8,500 small and mid-sized businesses. Its nearly 400 employees offer clients 24-7 support, and as a leading communications company, the company has high standards for its own communications solutions.

While searching for a filtering solution, accuracy of content filtering was top of mind, as well as guaranteed protection from viruses and intrusions to assure that Cypress employees can always meet clients' communication needs.

The Solution

For Mark Newton, Executive Director of Information Technology at Cypress Communications, a major consideration when evaluating the options was the ability to avoid what is commonly known as "false positives." Several software solutions he investigated were inaccurate, with a tendency to block appropriate sites, impeding employee productivity. Newton needed a balance between vigilant filtering and high accuracy, noting that 8e6™ , for example, was not a powerful enough solution for the growing company.

Of course, network security was also an important criterion. TeleMate.Net Software regularly offers free upgrades of NetSpective to address network security, and Cypress currently uses NetSpective 2.0. This version includes Skype-filtering technology, which blocks Skype version 1.4.0.48 and the recently introduced version 2.0.0.43. NetSpective's ability to filter Skype has been certified by the Tolly Group, a leading and independent source for IT certification.

"We are currently blocking Skype because if our people are on the phone they need to use our VoIP or our TDM line. We're interested in closing the door on any intrusions or bandwidth drains, and filtering Skype is an important way of doing so. Not everyone is aware of the amount of bandwidth used by each call," said Newton.

Recently, several organizations have documented the security dangers associated with the Skype application, which drains bandwidth, opens networks up to virus and security violations, and impedes ability to meet regulatory requirements. NetSpective is currently the only such product with the verified ability to address these critical issues.

The Results

Since implementing the NetSpective product in 2002 on its Microsoft IP network, the company has experienced complete reliability and accuracy. An additional benefit was replication within distributed deployment via automatic synchronization, which offers centralized management and easier deployment of large scale products.

"With NetSpective, I simply put policy into one unit, and I don't have to program other units. One unit has been running 24-7 for three years, another for two years, and I cannot report one problem. Our P2P issues have just evaporated, employee productivity is increased, and bandwidth is highly optimized," Newtown added. "It is extremely reliable; I just plug it in and I don't have to worry about it.

"In particular, I've been very impressed with the way NetSpective learns from other users' experiences," he said, referring to the NetSpective Adaptive Filtering Lab, which subjects new sites to both automatic and human review. "I can't recall getting any false positives. Everything is categorized in 72 hours."