New Delhi  :  WatchGuard Technologies, a global leader in integrated, multi-function network security platforms, today announced that Adarsh Credit Co-Operative Society, a leading multi-state Credit Co-Operative Society providing financial services to its members in India, has deployed a variety of WatchGuard XTM appliances in its data centers, disaster recovery sites, and branch locations. This has enabled Adarsh to achieve secure connectivity with failover, content-based Web filtering and centralized management of more than 500 locations.

“WatchGuard enabled us to do business with high network availability using its auto failover option,” Adarsh Credit Co-Operative Society’s Chief Operating Officer Rahul Modi said. “It also helped us to render our financial services in rural areas in a more secure way.”

“We implemented the Core Banking application and needed to connect all the branches with the central location so it could be accessed seamlessly,” Adarsh’s AVP of IT Ramlal Arya said. “When employees and members access the Core application, speed is important, but the bigger challenge is ensuring all transactions are secure. Deploying WatchGuard helped achieve both goals.”

Adarsh has deployed WatchGuard XTM 8 and 5 Series appliances in its data centers, as well as XTM 2 Series appliances at all of its branch locations. While banking accessibility was key, the organization also needed to restrict Internet usage at branch sites. Setting up the right IT security policies and ensuring uniform administration across these sites was a key driver in the selection process.

“WatchGuard’s XTM also helps us achieve higher throughput, which results in faster application access across the board,” Arya said. “Installation of the appliances in high-availability mode ensured uninterrupted connectivity and smooth failover from one appliance to the other. It proved fast and straightforward with the centralized policy management capabilities and has reduced our need for site-to-site travel. And, working with WatchGuard’s Expert Partner, TM Systems Pvt., made the entire process fluid.”

Arya summed up the experience best: “WatchGuard has given us a secure platform that allows us to connect all locations seamlessly and gives members and employees secure connectivity quickly to the applications they need. On the IT side, it gives us more control and the ability to easily manage these appliances and policies from a centralized location.”