Problem

A Fortune 250 multinational financial services institution needed a replacement for their Cisco Integrated Service Routers that were reaching End of Life (EOL). The customer wanted an Infrastructure Management solution that would replace the Cisco ISR’s while allowing them to continue their growth and innovation. They needed a solution focused on the next-generation of IT management, with a robust security stack and additional key features baked in. They needed security they could trust and verify against vulnerabilities and penetration tests. Customizable security policies with enterprise grade encryption options were also a part of their selection criteria.

As a result, the customer conducted a bake-off between ZPE’s Open Infrastructure Management solution and other purpose built Serial Consoles from legacy serial console vendors. ZPE provided the Nodegrid Serial Console (S Series) for evaluation, which was designed and built for managing hybrid environments like theirs that consist of both current and legacy devices. What was expected to be a long-term bake-off, turned out to be a quick and convincing win for ZPE’s Nodegrid Serial Console.

With a large administrative staff scattered around the world, the customer needed a highly secure remote access and control solution that delivers a 360-degree view of the global infrastructure, integrated with an existing management message bus, and enforced session self-termination from the user’s workstation all the way to the target device. They also required user defined roles, each with specific sets of permissions, access, and control rights over particular devices on the network.

Finally, the solution had to meet the strict regulatory requirements of the financial industry. The ability to provide detailed logging and auditing records for inspection and compliance was a must. –  NSC allows the user to keep track of who accessed which devices, when, and what actions were executed by the particular user.

Solution

ZPE’s Nodegrid Open Infrastructure Management solution addressed all the customer’s needs and more. Nodegrid’s customizable user access and control settings gave the customer the flexibility it’s administrative staff needed. With enterprise grade security baked in, the customer was able to add an additional layer of security to their In-band and Out-of-Band Infrastructure. Nodegrid’s ability to provide detailed auditing and security logs helped the customer maintain compliancy.

Key Determining Factors

• Software stack running on latest version Linux OS to clear vulnerabilities and penetration tests. Ability to keep it up to date based on latest HW/SW design
• Strong 4096-bit encryption and cypher suite levels for secure communication and policies customization.
• Patent pending full self-termination sessions and regulatory logging trail
• Clustering for 360-view of the targets around the globe
• Flexible integration with the management service bus in order to track changes, automate configuration via ZTP
• Modern x86-64bit Linux OS allows the user to add custom extensions

Key Features

ZPE’s Nodegrid Solutions come with the following security features standard.

• Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP)
  • Some of the infrastructure needs to be deployed remotely – All that’s required to make sure deployment is successful is the MAC address of the new units.
• Logging and Auditing for Inspection and Regulatory Compliance
  • Nodegrid logs all the standard data — who logged in and when — as well as data that our competitors don’t capture, such as the content of login console sessions – not just records of who and when, but the “what.”
  • Nodegrid’s security and logging features fulfill regulatory compliance needs of the financial industry.
• Enterprise Grade Security
  • Enterprise Grade Authentication and Authorization
  • Patent Pending Security Disconnection Enforcement
    • Extensible Self-terminating Session Commands
  • TLS protocols, X.509 SSH certificates, Cypher Suite Levels
  • Firewall and Secure Tunnels
  • Alerts and Actions
• Fail-over to enterprise grade 4G/LTE modem, VPN, Firewall & IPsec
  • Your choice of carrier, model, features and plans. ZPE doesn’t lock you into one or two predetermined carriers. Choose any carrier regionally and globally based on availability, reception and cost. Ideal for network failover and redundancy at globally distributed remote offices and clinics.

Schedule a Demo and See What Nodegrid Can Do For You

Our un-matched flexibility in Remote Access and Control perfectly positions us to meet anything manufacturers can throw our way. We pioneered IT infrastructure access and control back in the early 2000’s, just like we’re pioneering IT infrastructure access and control for today and the future. Check us out. You’ll be glad you did.

NodeGrid Serial Console^™ is not just for data centers.

Retail, Remote Office and POD/POP environments normally do not have dedicated IT support staff available. So who will monitor and repair network and server downtime issues? Can your business afford to turn away customers or let employees sit idle during network or server downtime events?

Maximized retail store, remote office and POD/POP IT uptime is possible without staffing a full time IT expert in every remote site. You simply need extremely reliable remote hands access.

ZPE Systems’ NodeGrid Serial Console provides smart, consolidated “out-of-band” access and control of your retail and remote office IT equipment. In case your store’s router goes down, ZPE’s NodeGrid Serial Console automatically senses the network failure and activates your choice of cellular modem, over a cellular carrier and mobile plan of your choice. ZPE does not lock you into one or two predetermined cellular providers.

Unlike our competitors, we simultaneously provision a seamless SSL VPN experience with your choice of static, dynamic or private IP address – so you don’t have to wonder what your store’s new IP address is during a severe IT breakdown event. ZPE’s Instant SSL VPN creates a tunnel back to corporate with the same exact IP address as before so your customers and employees are no worse for wear.

In fact, NodeGrid Serial Console offers more than just SSL client and server VPN capability to retail and remote office customers. Want to consolidate IT hardware in each store? Add backup capability? Add more IP addresses, Wi-Fi and networking capacity?

Retail and remote sites benefit from NodeGrid Serial Console’s unique features below, not available from competitors’ consoles:

• Enterprise grade cellular modem – your choice of carrier, model, features and plans. Ideal for network failover and redundancy at globally distributed remote offices and retail stores.
• Gateway and routing (IP forwarding) capability – intelligent multiple routing table algorithm for physical network or logical network fail over detection.
• DHCP server – provides extra IPs for your remote site on regular or emergency basis – or replaces your current router altogether.
• Firewall – built-in and turns on with a checkbox.
• Power control and monitoring – get alerts of suboptimal IT device health before POS malfunctions occur. Repair hardware faults automatically. Preventive medicine is the best kind.
• Security – built-in selectable 1024-bit encrypted cryptographic protocols and selectable cypher suite levels: high, medium, low and custom. NodeGrid Serial Console supports X.509 SSH certificates, Local, AD/LDAP, RADIUS, TACACS+, Kerberos authentication, user-access lists per port, group/role-based authorization, granular authorization for port access, power access, appliance privilege, system configuration checksum, system event syslog and more.
• Docker and scripting apps – bulk up your stores’ customer services by deploying your own in-store DNS Server Docker app (customer-store interactive Wi-Fi), NFS Docker app for extra storage use (CCTV or product display playback), or any other new scripts or apps which increase in-store profitability, YOY.
• Wi-Fi hotspot ready – start beaming your own Wi-Fi signals. Just plug any USB Wi-Fi antenna into your NodeGrid unit. Perfect for the far corners of your retail empire.

Highlights

• Fast remote hands troubleshooting of retail and remote office server, network, power and storage issues.
• Dedicated central office staff quickly triage and solve IT issues, greatly reducing the need for on-site IT staff at retail and remote office sites.
• 24×7 access to IT assets via your choice of cellular provider. ZPE doesn’t lock you into one or two pre-determined carriers. Choose any carrier regionally and globally based on availability, reception and cost.
• Seamless enterprise level security, networking continuity and access to your IT devices.