4-page Case Study - Posted 5/28/2008
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Security Solution Helps Israeli Airline Cut IT Storage Requirements, Improve Efficiency
EL AL Israel Airlines, the previously state-owned airline, receives about 200,000 e-mail messages a day, of which only about 7,000 are legitimate communications from customers, employees, and vendors. Until recently, the volume of the remaining unsolicited messages required EL AL to increase its e-mail storage capacity by 30 to 40 percent a year, which was expensive. These messages also cluttered employee mailboxes, which hindered productivity and increased the risk of virus and spyware infections. To address these challenges, EL AL deployed Microsoft® Forefront™ Security for Exchange Server. The new solution effectively filters unwanted content, resulting in a more efficient use of IT resources, lower costs, and higher productivity. System performance has also improved, with 70 percent of e-mail storage space now routinely free.
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Before deploying Forefront Security for Exchange Server, we had to increase e-mail storage space by 30 to 40 percent annually. Today, we routinely have 70 percent of our existing space free, resulting in improved system performance.  |
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Uri Farage
Manager of the Operating Systems Department
EL AL |
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Situation
Established in 1948 as the national airline of Israel, EL AL Israel Airlines has grown into a worldwide air carrier serving 30 countries through a network of 77 sales offices. It is ranked as one of the most efficient airlines in the world by the International Air Transport Association. The carrier was originally owned by the State of Israel and is now a publicly traded company on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Headquartered in Lod, Israel, EL AL has more than 3,500 full-time and 2,600 part-time employees, and in 2007 it had revenues of U.S.$1.9325 billion.
EL AL uses e-mail to communicate internally, to market its services, and to distribute electronic tickets to passengers. For years the company has relied on Microsoft® Exchange Server 2003 to provide mission-critical enterprise messaging functions to approximately 3,000 internal users. Employees access their e-mail through the Microsoft Office Outlook® 2003 messaging and collaboration client on their office computers, the Office Outlook Mobile messaging and collaboration client on handheld devices supported by Direct Push Technology, or Office Outlook Web Access on any Internet-connected computer that has a Web browser.
EL AL receives about 200,000 e-mail messages each day. However, only about 7,000 of these are legitimate work-related messages from employees, customers, and vendors. In the past, this high volume of unwanted e-mail caused storage problems for the company’s IT department. “We back up e-mail in external storage systems,” explains Yaron Cohen, Windows Network Administrator at EL AL. “As the number of unwanted e-mail messages continued to rise, we became unable to handle the growing storage requirements. Every time we increased our storage space, we very quickly reached nearly full capacity.” Because buying additional storage was expensive, the company had to periodically shut down its e-mail server so that it could filter out the unwanted messages and free up existing space. This process was time-consuming for IT staff.
The incoming e-mail also decreased employee productivity by cluttering mailboxes with spam and making it difficult for employees to quickly respond to legitimate messages. The unwanted e-mail also posed a security problem because messages can contain viruses, spyware, and other malicious content.
EL AL sought a solution that would effectively filter unwanted e-mail, strengthen protection against security threats, and integrate easily into the company’s existing enterprise messaging environment.
Solution
EL AL deployed Microsoft Forefront™ Security for Exchange Server to protect the company’s enterprise messaging environment. Part of the Forefront line of business security products, Forefront Security for Exchange Server provides protection for Edge Transport, Hub Transport, and Mailbox server roles for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. It integrates multiple scan engines into a comprehensive, layered security solution that helps guard against viruses, worms, spam, and inappropriate content.
“We checked out a number of other options before we selected the Microsoft offering,” says Rafi Dabush, Manager of the Computer Network Unit at EL AL. “The fact that our IT infrastructure is based on Microsoft software was one consideration, but not the only one. When we examined the product in depth and looked at research done by other companies such as Gartner Research, we found that Forefront Security for Exchange Server was the ideal product to fully meet our requirements for filtering content.”
EL AL also implemented comprehensive policies for its Exchange Server environment. For example, the company promoted a clean-mailbox policy by blocking voice and video content. Exceptions were made for particular groups and individuals that require multimedia functions, such as the marketing department, the company’s training manager, and select external suppliers (if they provided proper authentication).
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When we examined the product in depth and looked at research done by other companies such as Gartner Research, we found that Forefront Security for Exchange Server was the ideal product to fully meet our requirements for filtering content. |
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Rafi Dabush
Manager of the Computer Network Department
EL AL |
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To help support the deployment project, Microsoft worked with EL AL to find an IT partner that could optimize the solution’s performance. EL AL chose db@net for this purpose. Based in Ramat Gan, Israel, db@net is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner that offers comprehensive IT services and has wide-ranging experience in implementing virtually all Microsoft enterprise software.
Based on the tests that the companies performed, EL AL chose an optimal set of five scanning engines. (Forefront Security for Exchange Server includes multiple scanning engines, of which five can run concurrently.) When testing was complete, EL AL deployed the new security solution throughout its Exchange Server environment.
Benefits
With its new solution based on Forefront Security for Exchange Server in place, EL AL is effectively filtering unwanted e-mail that would otherwise consume valuable storage space, clutter employee mailboxes, and pose potential security threats. The result is a more efficient use of IT resources, which helps control costs. The company also benefits from the high-quality service that Microsoft and db@net provide.
Superior Support and Service
EL AL appreciates the responsive support it receives from Microsoft and from the IT partner that Microsoft recommended. “As soon as we turned to Microsoft, we received full support,” says Uri Farage, Manager of the Operating Systems Department at EL AL. “Microsoft also put us in touch with db@net for the purpose of improving performance. The fact that this support is available locally in Israel at both the help-desk level and the very highest technical level is a tremendous benefit for us. For a company of our size, service is an important added value and a weighty factor that we consider when we decide whether to engage external parties.”
More Efficient Use of IT Resources, Lower Costs
Prior to deploying the new solution, EL AL used perimeter defenses that were unable to filter content, resulting in unwanted messages that cluttered mailboxes and consumed valuable storage space. Now, with the effective filtering that Forefront Security for Exchange Server provides, EL AL is using its IT storage, systems, and labor resources much more efficiently, thus better controlling IT costs. “Before deploying Forefront Security for Exchange Server, we had to increase e-mail storage space by 30 to 40 percent annually,” says Farage. “Today, we routinely have 70 percent of our existing space free, resulting in improved system performance.”
Also, the IT department no longer has to shut down e-mail server computers to manually remove unwanted content from them. This substantially reduces the burden on IT staff and gives them more time to focus on other tasks. Additionally, the new solution—which includes policies governing the types of incoming content that are allowed—keeps users’ mailboxes cleaner. With only work-related e-mail to read, employees communicate more effectively and work more efficiently.
Stronger IT Security
EL AL is extremely concerned about maintaining the security of all its IT systems, and it sees Forefront Security for Exchange Server as an important part of its infrastructure protection plan. “EL AL is perceived as a company that represents the State of Israel,” says Dabush. “The result is that we experience many attempts by hostile forces to attack our systems. This is why we are in the process of upgrading our IT environment with products like Forefront Security for Exchange Server, so that we can address the level of threats in relation to their importance to the company. We consider the e-mail system to be at a very critical threat level.”
For several months, Forefront Security for Exchange Server has protected the e-mail environment against viruses that occasionally penetrate the company’s perimeter network defenses. Yaron Cohen, Windows Network Administrator at EL AL, explains why the extra level of security is important: “For us, security is not just a matter of maintaining a competitive edge or business secrets. We are talking about the survival of our critical systems, such as issuing electronic tickets or even the entire functioning of EL AL. Now, when we are attacked, we can identify electronic ‘footprints’ that can be traced to hostile entities.”
He concludes, “Forefront Security for Exchange Server is a key part of our protection efforts. With regard to security, we can’t be caught off guard at any time.”
For More Information
For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information by using the World Wide Web, go to:
http://www.microsoft.com/
For more information about db@net products and services, call 972 (3) 612 6161 (Israel) or visit the Web site at:
http://www.dbnet.co.il/
For more information about EL AL products and services, call 972 (3) 977 1111 (Israel) or visit the Web site at:
http://www.elal.co.il/
Microsoft Forefront Product Portfolio
The Microsoft Forefront comprehensive line of business security products provides greater protection and control through integration with your existing IT infrastructure and through simplified deployment, management, and analysis. Forefront is a comprehensive solution that helps provide protection for the client operating system, application servers, and the network edge.
For more information about the Forefront product portfolio, go to:
www.microsoft.com/forefront
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Document published May 2008
