NEC Corporation, a global business with over 300 group companies worldwide and 110,000 employees, was driving a cloud shift to enable work style innovations and digital transformation (DX). The company aimed to provide comfort and security simultaneously when connecting to the cloud. The challenge was to migrate their network infrastructure, including the internet gateway, to a secure cloud environment. This was necessary to realize a work style that was not constrained by time or place. The company faced difficulties in detecting cyberattacks and malware downloads due to the encryption of web traffic. About 90% of their web traffic was SSL, and approximately 80% of malware communication used SSL, which was often used for cyberattacks. Traditional security solutions that did not support SSL visualization could not detect malware. The company also aimed to ease internet traffic by significantly shifting the IT environment from on-premises to the cloud, ensuring application performance was not interrupted by security regulations and maintaining a user-friendly state even when traffic drastically increased.

Goulston & Storrs, an Am Law 200 law firm, faced several challenges in securing its client data. The firm needed to continually increase its level of protection to keep up with evolving threats. Operational inefficiencies due to outdated security mechanisms that did not align with modern applications were also a concern. The firm's security measures were complicated by policy management issues. The firm's private and public clouds, which are data-rich targets for cybercriminals, were often secured with firewall-based controls. These controls allowed malicious communications to piggyback on permitted network policies due to a lack of visibility beyond primitive network attributes. The firm needed a solution that could provide application-level enforcement and continuous trust assessments for gap-free security coverage.

British American Tobacco (BAT), a multinational company with a presence in 180 countries, faced significant challenges in maintaining multiple global locations that used varied endpoint technologies. The company had 40 different Internet gateways from various vendors, leading to a high maintenance and support overhead. The geographic spread across countries and continents with different infrastructure standards made it difficult to maintain a uniform security cover. As a result, BAT had a locked-down approach to Internet browsing, leading to user dissatisfaction. This was further aggravated by high latency due to the need to VPN into the BAT infrastructure and the associated backhauling of Internet traffic.

Telefónica, a leading integrated operator in the telecommunication sector, faced a significant challenge in supporting its expansion into Latin America and other overseas markets. The company needed to ensure service reliability, manage services across various geographies, and differentiate itself as the best Internet access provider. However, the company had no presence in Asia, which meant that customers traveling there would either have to be backhauled to Europe or routed to expensive, local routes. Furthermore, the maintenance and deployment of appliances were not scalable, making it difficult for the company to expand its operations effectively.

Agilent, a global leader in life sciences, diagnostics, and applied chemistry, was facing a significant challenge with its network growth and the need to enhance flexibility and user productivity through cloud applications and services. Initially, 90 of Agilent’s 120 locations relied on Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) for wide-area network (WAN) connectivity. However, over 60 percent of its traffic was destined for the Internet, and the MPLS system was causing performance issues, cumbersome management, and high costs. Agilent was forced to bypass standard methods and develop custom solutions for its larger offices to keep up with the increasing demand for bandwidth. This practice was not only expensive but also gave Agilent’s network administration team little or no visibility into Internet traffic. The company needed a more cost-effective way to secure Internet-bound traffic consistently across all its global locations.

Aster Group UK, a not-for-profit organization that owns and manages over 30,000 homes, faced a significant challenge when their workforce began to shift towards remote work. Their existing remote access solution, Citrix Netscaler, was unable to keep up with the demands of an increasingly mobile workforce. The company needed a future-proof solution that would allow their employees and partners to work remotely without adding complexity for IT administrators. Additionally, Aster Group was in the process of consolidating servers to free up resources, which required a simple solution that could reduce complexity while still allowing users to connect securely to mission-critical applications.

UST Global, a leading digital technology organization, was facing challenges with its on-premises web security appliances. As the company expanded, it needed a centralized management system for its web security, a reduction in security appliance expenditure, and a more secure and consistent internet experience for users across its multiple worldwide locations. The existing approach was time-consuming and costly, with the IT team spending a significant amount of time setting up, upgrading, and managing appliances to maintain high availability. Frequent unplanned downtime resulted in performance issues that impacted employee productivity. Additionally, the company was burdened with steep hardware licensing and maintenance costs. The lack of consistency in the way branch offices handled security posed a significant challenge. Deploying security policies consistently across multiple devices was becoming increasingly difficult and expensive. The company also needed a better web security solution for its remote workforce of about 7,000 employees.

Sanmina, a Fortune 500 global manufacturing and logistics company, embarked on its digital transformation early, adopting cloud applications and services like Google G Suite. The company has been actively migrating applications to the cloud and leveraging its advantages. However, the company’s migration to the cloud raised the bar for security. Prior to the Zscaler deployment, endpoint security and local firewalls on employee laptops provided a certain level of protection. However, when Sanmina’s more than 6,000 mobile employees were outside of the network and connected directly to cloud apps, they bypassed the security perimeter, increasing their exposure to internet threats. The company needed a solution that could provide comprehensive protection from web threats and enhance usability.

Siemens, a global leader in energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, was facing a challenge with its traditional hub-and-spoke network architecture. As more and more traffic was being directed to the internet rather than the corporate network, the company realized the need to rethink its network architecture. The goal was to fully leverage cloud applications like Microsoft Office 365 and platforms like Azure and AWS. With a massive user base of over 350,000 users and more than 30,000 contractors spread across 2,200 offices in 192 countries, Siemens required a solution that was not only scalable and elastic but could also adapt to constantly changing requirements.

The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine (HJF) is a nonprofit organization that supports about 1,500 scientific research programs across military and government. These programs range from cancer research, combat care, disaster preparedness, clinical and rehabilitative medicine to infectious disease control. Amid the global battle against COVID-19, HJF was determined to fight the pandemic on two fronts: supporting domestic and international partners working on innovative countermeasures, and keeping its team and the communities in which they live and serve safe by helping mitigate the spread of the disease. To accomplish this, HJF needed to find a way to provide its staff, researchers, and partners with remote access to critical applications as they transitioned to working from home while continuing to support their colleagues in the labs.

Powerco, a leading electricity and gas infrastructure business in New Zealand, was faced with the challenge of modernizing its corporate IT infrastructure. The company aimed to transition from a traditional wide area network (WAN) architecture to an internet-only, zero trust strategy across its office locations. This required finding a replacement for legacy web filtering and virtual private network (VPN) capabilities. Additionally, Powerco wanted to change the way its applications were deployed, moving away from the intranet and publishing them behind a secure portal. However, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic forced the company to accelerate its deployment plans, adding an additional layer of complexity to the situation.

Sandvik Group, a global high-tech and engineering company, was facing significant challenges with its traditional virtual private network (VPN) approach to connecting and securing remote workers. The VPN technology was causing productivity and user experience hurdles, as it hadn't evolved much since its introduction. The company was looking for a technology that removed connectivity hurdles and reduced attack surfaces to improve its security posture. The challenge was further intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic, which necessitated a rapid transition to a work-from-anywhere (WFA) model. The company needed to establish zero-trust network access rapidly and smoothly to enable this transformation.

TT Electronics, a global provider of engineered electronics, was facing challenges with its existing network infrastructure. The company had set up a global MPLS network with web scanning, email scanning, and VPN in 2010, and renewed its contract in 2015, increasing its bandwidth and user count. However, the increased bandwidth proved to be inadequate due to the rapid transition to cloud apps. Furthermore, the company was struggling to secure its transition to cloud apps and an increasingly mobile workforce. The situation was further complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which necessitated remote work. The company's existing remote access VPN was proving to be inflexible and limited in bandwidth, causing difficulties for users in China.

Watercare Services, a public utility company in Auckland, New Zealand, faced significant challenges in securing its network and optimizing work-from-anywhere (WFA) and remote access for its IIoT and IoT devices. The company had initially weathered the first wave of COVID-19 lockdowns using a combination of security solutions, including a secure cloud gateway and virtual private networks (VPNs). However, during the second lockdown, these solutions proved insufficient. The company's existing secure cloud gateway was obtrusive and unpopular among users. Furthermore, Watercare's primary VPN product collapsed just before the second lockdown, leaving the company in urgent need of a more reliable and comprehensive solution. The company was committed to adopting a zero trust security approach and needed a platform that could deliver exceptional user experiences while also providing robust security.

The customer company, a global pharmaceutical giant with over $2B in annual revenue and more than 11,000 employees in 60 countries, was facing a significant challenge in managing its security solutions. The company's rapid growth, largely through mergers and acquisitions, had led to a proliferation of different security solutions that were becoming increasingly difficult to manage. The company was struggling with multiple appliance proxies across locations, making management cumbersome. The deployment of appliances was challenging due to the company's widespread locations. Furthermore, the company lacked visibility into internet traffic across its various locations. The company needed a single, scalable solution that could be quickly deployed globally, with minimal effort from their small IT staff.

MAN Diesel & Turbo, a leading industrial player in transport-related engineering, faced a significant challenge when their existing security solution, SurfControl, reached its end-of-life. With a vast network of 12,000 users spread across over 100 locations in 50 countries, the company needed to find a new solution that could protect their extensive user base without incurring additional capital expenditure. The task of replicating the appliance model was no longer feasible, especially considering that some of their remote sites lacked advanced filtering. The challenge was to find a solution that was not only effective but also scalable and capable of evolving with the company's requirements.

Banco Regional de Monterrey (BanRegio), a leading financial services institution in Monterrey, Mexico, faced several challenges due to its rapid business growth. The expansion of new branches led to high bandwidth costs as traffic was backhauled from 100 locations to a central site. This resulted in high operational costs and increased complexity in maintaining a large pre-approved URL list. The bank was using a central proxy-based URL filtering solution that did not include a network-based Anti-Virus solution. This posed a significant challenge to the bank's security infrastructure, making it vulnerable to potential threats. The appliance-based solutions were not only cost-prohibitive but also did not address the backhauling issues, adding to the bank's operational woes.

Hoek en Blok, a company providing in-house advice and assistance in accountancy, tax, legal affairs, personnel and salary matters, was facing significant challenges in managing its growing accounting practice. The company was struggling with limited resources, poor end-user experience, and the stress of managing security appliances. The IT staff had to duplicate changes across all boxes, travel onsite for emergency repairs, and still had to spend hours on maintenance and security issues. The backhauling of traffic was creating a very poor end-user experience. The company needed a model that could save time and still deliver a faster end-user experience. The challenge was to find a solution that could provide advanced security protection, ease of use, and enhanced end-user experience while efficiently utilizing IT resources.

The case study revolves around a Fortune 500, technology-driven, multi-specialty healthcare company with over 10,000 employees in more than 50 countries. The company was facing a series of challenges. Firstly, it needed to protect its intellectual property and adhere to government regulations, a basic requirement for any healthcare company. Secondly, the company was experiencing rapid growth through acquisitions and expansion into emerging markets, and it needed to ensure that its IT infrastructure could support this growth. Lastly, the company was transitioning from an OPEX to a CAPEX model, which prompted the IT department to move all applications to the cloud.

The global automotive supplier, headquartered in Michigan, USA, faced a significant challenge in establishing and enforcing a global policy for internet access. With a workforce spread across 70 locations in 18 countries, the company needed to provide secure internet access to all employees, including a growing number of remote users and mobile devices. The company was using two on-premise solutions, Websense and a Squid Linux service, both of which were nearing the end of their contract periods. The company wanted to consolidate these two solutions and define a consistent global security standard that could be applied across all employees, irrespective of their locations.

GHD, a leading professional services company, was grappling with the challenge of providing secure, reliable, and scalable internet access to its employees across various locations. The company's complex ICT environment, coupled with an increasing reliance on internet services, posed significant challenges for GHD’s Information Security team. The team was tasked with ensuring secure internet access for every data center, office, and employee, regardless of their geographical location. The task was further complicated by the need to maintain and deploy firewall appliances in several offices or project sites.

Salmat, a leading Australian marketing services company, was grappling with a complex and outdated IT infrastructure. The company had grown organically and through acquisitions, resulting in a mixed bag of systems with no real standards, unsustainable customizations, and complicated integrations. The IT team was spending most of its time on maintenance tasks such as patching web proxies and updating security software, rather than focusing on delivering client solutions. The company was also struggling with product renewals and version upgrades. The outdated enterprise resource planning (ERP) system was a particular challenge. After implementing a cloud-based ERP solution, Workday, the company saw the value of the cloud and decided to embark on a full-scale cloud conversion initiative. However, they faced a security dilemma as they were unable to implement single sign-on for Workday with the existing on-premises solution.

Umicore, a global materials technology and recycling group, faced a significant challenge in maintaining simplicity, productivity, and reliability in its IT systems across a highly distributed environment. With over 100 sites worldwide and a workforce that needed to operate both on-site and remotely, the company's IT infrastructure was under strain. The increasing use of cloud applications led to a rapid growth in the need for Internet access. However, security controls were only present in the larger manufacturing plants. The IT team was faced with two options: backhauling the Internet traffic through the company’s private MPLS with an Internet breakout in regional data centers or deploying a cloud-based Web security solution with local Internet breakouts. The first option was ruled out due to cost and latency issues. The second challenge was to remove complexity while ensuring superior support services.

The Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture (ARMA) was established in 1994 to support the development of agriculture and rural areas in Poland. As an accredited paying agency, ARMA processes applications, verifications, and other forms, as well as paying refunds for more than 2 million farmers and others in the agricultural industry throughout Poland. ARMA was faced with the challenge of enabling its growing mobile and remote workforce to work securely and efficiently. The solution needed to provide a secure and stable connection to their applications when working away from the office. The challenge was further intensified by the global pandemic, which necessitated a quick shift to remote work for all employees.

Ciena, a global networking systems, services, and software company, faced a dual challenge. The CEO, Gary B. Smith, tasked the IT team with increasing employee engagement levels, particularly during daily meetings. The team identified video conferencing as a potential solution, following positive feedback from peers who had seen a significant rise in engagement when video was used for internal meetings. However, implementing video conferencing across Ciena's 70+ global locations, coupled with the growing volume of traffic accessing cloud-based applications, posed a significant challenge. The company's existing hub-and-spoke topology was not equipped to handle this increased demand, leading to concerns about network strain and potential security issues.

The City of Boston, like many cities across the country, was working to reduce its data center footprint and shift its infrastructure, applications, and data to the cloud. The goal was to provide responsive, modern citizen services. However, as the city relied more on web-based applications and infrastructure, new challenges arose. The existing internet security solution was inefficient and unreliable. It was increasingly important to ensure employees could safely access web-based applications and data. The city needed a secure, scalable, cost-effective cloud access for its 5,500 users to improve workflow efficiency and reduce user frustration. The city was also looking to shift to a cloud security platform and adopt a zero trust approach.

GROWMARK, a large agricultural cooperative, faced significant challenges in providing zero trust access to hundreds of applications hosted on AWS and on-premises. The company had to upgrade its VPN public interfaces and technology to accommodate its remote and hybrid workforce operating in over 500 rural locations with often unreliable internet service. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated these challenges, necessitating a swift transition to a secure, reliable, and scalable remote work environment. GROWMARK also sought to tie access to identity and multi-factor authentication (MFA) to gain better visibility into online user activities. The company also aimed to replace its legacy VPN technology with a solution that could better support its remote, rural, connectivity-challenged workforce.

Konoike Transport, a comprehensive logistics company based in Japan, was facing a significant challenge in its digital transformation journey. The company had a mid-term IT strategy that aimed to move its ICT infrastructure to the cloud and enable work style innovation. However, the company was struggling with providing high-speed secure access to the internet, cloud solutions, and internal systems for its employees, regardless of their location. The company initially used three major carriers for WAN, and employees had to sign up to take laptops out of the office, which required complicated settings to ensure security outside the office. As the company expanded, the number of PCs, cloud service usage, and VPN connections increased, leading to bandwidth becoming a bottleneck. The company was also unable to use public Wi-Fi due to its security policy, and the internet processing speed on laptops was slow due to data restrictions.

Northgate Market expanded to 40 supermarkets through market growth and strategic acquisitions. Its ambitious expansion goals included additional services and capabilities intended to deliver exceptional service to its customers. However, these ambitions were hindered by its aging infrastructure with limited and failing network and security capabilities. Northgate Market was operating on an MPLS network with two T-1 network connections and limited 3Mbps capacity at each location. A wireless 3G LTE network served as a backup when the primary terrestrial network failed. Unfortunately, the network was slow and experienced frequent outages. All internet-bound traffic was backhauled from the individual supermarkets to the two corporate data centers and secured through web content filtering appliances before going out to the internet. This created bottlenecks and negatively impacted user experience as well as the ability for Northgate Market’s associates to deliver excellent service to its customers.

CSR Limited, a leading building products company in Australia and New Zealand, was faced with the challenge of upgrading its IT security system. The existing legacy tools were ageing and could no longer provide the level of protection the company required. The company needed to upgrade its entire perimeter security, including firewalls, replace an ageing on-premise content filtering system and a Threat Management Gateway. Additionally, CSR had to manage a new breed of web-based security threats while allowing users to access an increasing number of cloud-based applications seamlessly and securely. The company also began aligning itself with the ISO 27001 security standard.