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Branch Office Security

Connecting and Securing Your Branch Offices

Businesses need to connect remote-site branch offices to their corporate headquarters, provide security-enhanced Internet access from branch offices, and utilize limited bandwidth more efficiently.

Organizations can use Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2006 to connect to and secure their branch offices, while efficiently utilizing network bandwidth. By providing HTTP compression, caching of content (including software updates) and site-to-site virtual private network (VPN) capabilities integrated with application-layer filtering, ISA Server 2006 makes it easier to securely expand corporate networks.

ISA Server 2006 is also part of the recommended architecture in Microsoft Branch Office Solutions. Find more resources in the Improving Branch Office Security Learning Path.

Branch Office Security

Key IT Administrator Concerns

ISA Server 2006 Provides

Integrated Security

Branch office desktops do not get software updates as fast as they should.

BITS caching to accelerate the deployment of software updates and keep remote computers protected.

Efficient Management

Deployment at branch offices and remote locations is difficult because there is no local IT staff to setup the firewall or virtual private network (VPN).

Easy deployment and configuration in branch offices with automated VPN connectivity tools and answer files on removable media for unattended installation.

Significant portion of IT budget is consumed by costs of managing IT infrastructure at these remote locations.

Effective management with faster propagation of enterprise policies, reduced server requirements, and low-bandwidth optimizations.

Need to centrally manage branch office security and connectivity and prevent network access downtime.

Secure remote management of firewall and Web cache services.

Need ability to deploy into existing IT environments without changing the network architecture.

Multi-network architecture, network templates, and configuration tools to flexibly integrate into existing infrastructure.

Fast, Secure Access

Wide area network (WAN) links are expensive and poorly utilized.

HTTP traffic compression and caching which improves Web page load times and reduces WAN costs for users in branch offices.

Low priority traffic may override critical application traffic on WAN links, reducing application functionality.

DiffServ IP settings to ensure that the highest priority applications get precedence over other network traffic, and better bandwidth utilization and response times for critical Web resources.

Need to enhance network performance and optimize branch office content delivery.

Integrated Web caching in corporate data centers, cache server array functionality, and distributed hierarchical caching.