4-page Case Study - Posted 9/8/2008
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Cognizant Boosts Internet Access, Productivity with Advanced Proxy Server Technology
Fast and efficient access to the Internet is critical for the over 59,000 employees of Cognizant, which provides consulting, information technology, and business process outsourcing services to customers around the world. In view of the company’s rapid growth, the IT department wanted to find a proxy server technology that would be scalable and easier to manage. Working with Microsoft® Services, Cognizant replaced its older proxy server software with Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2006, part of the Forefront line of business security products. The deployment improved overall Web performance for users, helped boost productivity, provided more protection from Internet-based threats, and optimized existing bandwidth. The Cognizant IT department has better tools for managing its proxy servers, and can take advantage of ISA Server support and expertise provided by Microsoft.
Situation
Cognizant is a leading provider of consulting, information technology, and business process outsourcing services. Based in Teaneck, New Jersey, the company has more than 40 global delivery centers and more than 59,000 employees working in North America, Europe, Asia, South America, and Australia. A member of the NASDAQ-100 Index and the S&P 500 Index, the publicly traded Cognizant is a Forbes Global 2000 company and a member of the Fortune 1000 as well as ranked among the top information technology companies in Business Week’s Info. Tech 100, Hot Growth and Top 50 Performers listings.
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IT administrators say that ISA Server 2006 has helped ensure faster Web access and improved the Web-browsing experience for the company’s employees. |
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Cognizant employees around the world depend heavily on Internet access for conducting company business. In 2006, the IT department began looking for ways to enhance the performance of its network to accommodate the company’s rapid growth. Cognizant wanted a technology that could handle such a large influx of new users. It also needed tools and functionality to streamline the process of authenticating users and to efficiently handle high volumes of connection requests from across the global enterprise.
Given its aggressive growth plans, Cognizant realized that a key part of enhancing its infrastructure would be to upgrade its proxy server infrastructure to scale up for more growth.
Solution
The Cognizant IT Network and System Services Department addressed the challenges accompanying this growth by working with Microsoft® Services to deploy Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2006.
A part of the Microsoft Forefront™ line of business security products, ISA Server 2006 is an integrated network edge security gateway that helps protect the IT environment from Internet-based threats while providing fast and secure remote access to applications and data. It uses a variety of security and optimization technologies to provide users with secure and efficient access to the Internet and Web resources. Cognizant uses ISA Server as the outbound proxy for secure Internet access as well as a reverse proxy for remote access to internal Web applications.
Cognizant began planning the ISA Server deployment in mid-2007. The deployment was easy and efficient. It took the company’s IT team about six weeks to set up new Web proxies at 18 company locations in several countries.
The successful deployment was due in part to the Cache Array Routing Protocol (CARP) capability in ISA Server, which is used for load-balancing Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) requests from both client and server computers. CARP relies on an ISA Server–based script that distributes URL requests across multiple proxy servers to maximize available bandwidth and to accelerate Web browsing performance.
The team integrated ISA Server 2006 with other Microsoft software used by Cognizant, such as the Active Directory® service in Windows Server® 2003. Active Directory works with ISA Server to authenticate users and establish user permissions for outbound Internet access. The company also uses ISA Server with Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 and Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 for better visibility, monitoring, reporting, and overall management of the IT infrastructure.
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The successful deployment was due in part to the Cache Array Routing Protocol (CARP) capability in ISA Server, which is used for load-balancing Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) requests from both client and server computers. |
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Benefits
Cognizant has gained several performance and management benefits by replacing its previous proxy server software with ISA Server 2006. The increased optimization of available bandwidth has helped boost performance and employee productivity when the organization’s users browse the Web. Integration with Microsoft IT management software has eased administrative tasks. The support provided by Microsoft has helped IT staff members spend less time searching for answers to questions about configuring their proxy servers.
Better Web Performance
One of the main benefits of deploying ISA Server 2006 has been the noticeable increase in Web-browsing performance for users.
Since the deployment of ISA Server 2006, the company has received feedback from users that, overall, their Web-browsing experience has been faster than it was. The increase in performance has been attributed to the CARP functionality in ISA Server, which has significantly improved the caching efficiency of Web content. Now sites frequently used by employees are being retrieved faster because of CARP.
Web caching in ISA Server has provided for effective bandwidth use by bringing Web content closer to the users. It has also helped reduce the overall bandwidth use on the Cognizant network with a combination of in-memory and disk-based Web caching.
Additionally, the performance increase has been especially important because of the number and various locations of the end-users. The load-balanced arrays for Internet access have helped Cognizant because of the size of its user base. IT administrators say that ISA Server 2006 has helped ensure faster Web access and improved the Web-browsing experience for the company’s employees.
Easy Integration of Solution
The tight integration of ISA Server 2006 with other network components, such as Active Directory and Operations Manager 2005, has helped streamline the administration of the Web proxy services. For example, through Microsoft Operations Manager 2005, Cognizant employees now have easier access to reporting tools that can help them understand Web usage patterns. The IT department can also perform troubleshooting tasks faster with the ISA Server 2006 logging filter. The integration of various system components has delivered other important benefits as well, such as centralized management, real-time log monitoring, and e-mail notification when standard reports are available.
Improved Security and Support
The increased support has also been beneficial for Cognizant. With Microsoft backing ISA Server 2006, the Cognizant IT team has been receiving faster responses whenever it has questions. As a result, the team can resolve issues faster, which, in turn, frees up time for the IT administrators to focus on other work.
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 using the World Wide Web, go to:
http://www.microsoft.com/
For more information about Cognizant products and services, call (201) 801-0233 or visit the Web site at:
http://www.cognizant.com/
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 August 2008
