Government Organization Benefits From Cohesive Wireless Connectivity
Government Organization Benefits From Cohesive Wireless Connectivity
Government Organization Benefits From Cohesive Wireless Connectivity
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Customer Name: National Informatics
Centre (NIC)
Industry: Government
Location: New Delhi, India
Number of Employees: 3500
BUSINESS CHALLENGE:
Establish self-optimizing, mobile BYOD,
secure wireless network to support
self-healing architecture and mobile
BYOD initiative
Mitigate effects of wireless interference
and prevent network attacks
Provide secure guest access
management
NETWORK SOLUTION:
Cisco unified wireless architecture to
provide unified wired and wireless policy
and management
Wireless Intrusion Prevention System to
support self-healing architecture
Self-optimizing wireless network to
mitigate effects of wireless interference
and prevent network attacks
BUSINESS RESULTS:
Cohesive mobility for WLAN services
Improved collaboration and
productivity by allowing employees
to work their way
Centralized management, planning, and
troubleshooting
Business Challenge
The National Informatics Centre (NIC) of the Government of India,
a premier science and technology organization, is responsible
for the active promotion and implementation of Information and
Communication Technology solutions in the government. The
organization works to support information and communication
technology (ICT) applications in the government sector, specifically
network backbone and e-governance support to central government,
state governments, Union Territory (UT) administrations, districts, and
other government bodies. NIC offers a wide range of ICT services
including a nationwide communication network for decentralized
planning, improvement in government services, and wider
transparency of national and local governments.
The center assists the central and state governments in implementing
IT projects that include: (a) centrally sponsored initiatives and central
sector initiatives, (b) state sector and state-sponsored projects, and
(c) district administrationsponsored projects. NIC helps ensure that
the latest technology in all areas of IT is available to its users.
Given its area of operations and the multiple stakeholders involved
in each of its projects, NIC was looking to upgrade its core network
infrastructure. Due to the large number of mobile employees
who needed to access the corporate network for operational and
development purposes, providing connectivity on a wired network was
impractical. Many BYOD mobile workers also wished to access the
corporate network through their tablets, iPads, or smartphones.
As a result, NIC decided to provide wireless connectivity across the
various offices in different states and at its headquarters, for users
with the same profile. NIC was looking for a wireless solution that
would enable centralized network management and incorporate
security policy and monitoring.
The wireless solution has enabled the large population of our mobile employees
to connect to the corporate network while on the move, through their device of
choice, be it tablets, iPads, or smartphones.
R. S. Mani, Senior Technical Director, NIC
NIC also needed to provision for guest access to its wireless network and integrate its existing directory server
for authentication. Due to its vast user profile, the solution had to help ensure that the network could handle
wireless security threats, on-wire attack, over-the-air attack, rogue AP, and denial-of-services attacks.
NICs existing core is supported on 2.5 Gbps /10 Gigs, connecting all the states centers, which further connects
NIC offices in 600 districts of India with a connectivity of 1 Gbps.
Figure 1. NIC Wireless Architecture
New Delhi-HQ
Hyderabad-DR
The solution had to provide easy, secure guest access to the wireless network, but it also had to integrate
cohesively with the existing directory server at NIC. This would ensure easy authentication as well. While looking
for a suitable solution, NIC also evaluated various competitive solutions and chose Cisco because the integrated
solution provides for security and easy integration.
Business Results
The Cisco unified wireless architecture integrated with the existing Cisco Catalyst switching infrastructure and
provided a unified wired and wireless policy based on Cisco Identity Services Engine and management of Cisco
Network Control System (NCS) at NIC. The wireless intrusion prevention solution helped mitigate the effects of
wireless interference and prevent network attacks from denial of service, rogue access point, and spontaneous
wireless bridges.
The Cisco solution provided cohesive mobility for WLAN services, helped ensure centralized network management,
and offered a set of troubleshooting tools as well. Security management through the Cisco Wireless Intrusion
Prevention System (wIPS) helped address wireless security threats. All of this, in turn, helped accelerate business
collaboration and productivity, in addition to enabling easy management and provision of guest accounts. The
wireless solution has enabled the large population of our mobile employees to connect to the corporate network
while on the move, through their device of choice, be it tablets, iPads, or smartphones, says R. S. Mani, senior
technical director, NIC.
Although the solution has been implemented recently, NIC is already witnessing an increase in employee
collaboration and ease of working, which has, in turn, improved employee productivity.
Next Steps
PRODUCT LIST
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Cisco Systems, Inc.
San Jose, CA
Europe Headquarters
Cisco Systems International BV Amsterdam,
The Netherlands
Cisco has more than 200 offices worldwide. Addresses, phone numbers, and fax numbers are listed on the Cisco Website at www.cisco.com/go/offices.
Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. To view a list of Cisco trademarks, go
to this URL: www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply
a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. (1110R)
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