CASE STUDY key vulnerabilities in the F5 platform , with BlueFort ’ s consultants on hand for support , troubleshooting and professional services .
“ When we migrated the university ’ s Exchange application onto F5 we ran into some issues – in fact , it was quite a painful process ,” continued Elliott . “ However , that process was made far easier by speaking to BlueFort . The support desk is great . We advised BlueFort on the severity of the issue and it promptly raised a ticket and within an hour had started work on it .”
Ongoing support
BlueFort Security is focused on a select group of vendors and technologies , so it can provide the support and expertise many in-house IT teams need when rolling out specialist products . Elliott explains this in the context of the support BlueFort provides University of Brighton with : “ BlueFort knows where we are . It ’ s not that we have no knowledge about F5 , but that we have a far more generalist role to play to manage the university ’ s network . BlueFort helps us bridge that gap and deliver the right expertise as and when we need it .”
BlueFort delivers this support through Evolve , its Cyber Services package which includes unlimited access to its technical and professional services teams . Evolve gives BlueFort clients unlimited , on-demand access to BlueFort ’ s award-winning cybersecurity consultants while also providing deep industry expertise to ensure security tools are operating and performing at their maximum potential . Evolve comprises a range of entitlements such as annual system reviews , upgrade notifications , software version assurance plus inclusive credits that can be used as and when customers require them .
level of expertise who knows the detail . Where our knowledge runs out , BlueFort steps in to fill the gap and this means we ’ re far more confident in taking on more advanced capabilities .”
With Evolve , University of Brighton ’ s IT team has access to BlueFort ’ s technical team to assist with the tasks such as rollouts , installations and upgrades , as well as its professional services team for more complex projects including security assessments , consultation and design and installation .
“ With other partners we ’ ve used in the past , there ’ s more of an overlap between what we know and what the supplier knows – sometimes we have a greater level of expertise than the supplier supporting us ,” said Rickard . “ With BlueFort , we ’ ve found a partner that can provide a good level of additional support and , in my experience , that ’ s fairly unusual .” p
Many of University of Brighton ’ s critical applications are now going through F5 , from authentication through to mail and student information , so it ’ s critical for the university ’ s IT team that they can draw on BlueFort ’ s support whenever they need it .
David Rickard , Network Manager at University of Brighton , describes the challenge further . “ We are technical experts , but we have a range of things we have to look after . From general campus IT facilities to wireless and firewalls , our job is to provide a level of expertise in a far broader set of areas , so we simply can ’ t specialise as much .
“ BlueFort ’ s consultants are clearly experts in their field , which is why they can help us . It ’ s helpful that when we talk to BlueFort we get somebody with this
WHERE OUR KNOWLEDGE RUNS OUT , BLUEFORT
STEPS IN TO FILL THE GAP AND THIS MEANS WE ’ RE FAR MORE CONFIDENT
IN TAKING ON MORE ADVANCED CAPABILITIES .
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