The MegaPath Connectivity Blog

This requirement to protect and secure private data is more than a trend.  In fact, it is simply a best practice to protect any personally identifiable information that your business encounters.  Some states have taken the PCI DSS standard as a starting point, but here we see a government entity laying down the law on steps a business must take to make sure the data they handle is secure and encrypted, with a written plan on how they are doing so. BankInfoSecurity.com has a good post that discusses what businesses should be doing to ensure personal data is secured through encryption. The post points out that it is unlikely there will be proactive enforcement of the new law’s provision, as limited resources make it fairly impossible to see if everyone is in compliance.  It does point out, though, that if a data breach occurs, they [Massachusetts state government] will certainly check to make sure required procedures were being followed, and that companies who do not follow the law will face stiff penalties in such situations.

Security is something that you cannot afford to ignore, and using a managed SSL VPN service, combined with choosing a network provider who is PCI DSS compliant (pdf), is a great first step to ensuring critical data moving across your network is encrypted and secure.  Your business simply cannot afford the costs associated with a data breach, but not doing so at this point would be breaking the law.

Speak with your managed services network partner today to make sure both you and they are compliant.  If you find your current provider can’t meet your PCI and managed security needs, give us a call.  We’ll be more than happy to share our expertise in managed security solutions with your business.

If you haven’t had a chance to read Michael Francois’ last post; now is a good time because his insights are closely related to today’s Managed Services workshop at Channel Partners Conference in Las Vegas. MegaPath’s Bernie McGroder, who heads our sales engineering team, will be participating on the panel “Becoming an MSP: Is Managed Services Right for You?”  He’ll be in good company with industry leaders from Nemertes Research and CompTIA, among others. If you’re at the show today in Vegas, definitely plan to join Bernie at 2:30 pm.

On a daily basis Bernie and his team of sales engineers work closely with customers to help them identify the most pressing issues in IT operations and service delivery for the companies they support; and of course, to counsel those teams on the value that a dedicated outside team of voice, data, and security network experts can provide as a managed services partner. Bernie will be tackling the subject of earned and learned experience when he covers what becoming an MSP entails — from building and staffing a 24/7 NOC, to developing a service portfolio, to building processes and transitioning customers to the new delivery platform. In a recent conversation with an engineer from Bernie’s team, he noted “there really isn’t a customer network problem or situation we haven’t seen before. Our customers seem to appreciate all the experience we draw from, and our ability to meet their issue where it’s at, with the right advice.”

It’s this collective knowledge base and the experience gained from running 24/7/365 NOCs  that Michael Francois talked about in his insights on MegaPath’s successful certification process to achieve Cisco Master Managed Services Provider status. There may be a long list of MSPs in North America, but we’re honored to be part of this elite group of Cisco MSP partners.  Few MSPs can claim their expertise across voice, data, and secure network operations. In addition to NOCs, MegaPath runs a Secure Operations Center.  Back in a June 2009 post we noted the success our SOC team has had in supporting security customers by surpassing a 300,000 user milestone on our SSL platform, and more than 3.5 billion sessions. We’re seeing much demand for SSL VPN services, and just last month we passed another record.

Now that brings me to voice, which is a significant and growing part of MegaPath’s business. Our Connecticut-based voice operations team has been successfully providing managed Duet(SM) integrated voice and data services to customers and addressing 3 varieties – analog, PRI, and SIP trunking — for several years. Starting today MegaPath is introducing Duet Hosted Voice, a new hosted service solution addition to the Duet product family. We’re unquestionably excited about it, because even though MegaPath has been providing cloud-powered calling before the cloud was cool; many customers have been asking for a hosted VoIP service. For a sneak peek of what’s really special about Duet Hosted, stop by Booth 1301 at the Channel Partners show. You can also get a deeper dive into Duet Hosted by attending MegaPath University (also at Channel Partners in Room Islander B). The sessions are FREE, just register online for tomorrow’s courses.

Finally, since I’m on the subject of hosted voice, this is a great time to welcome a new voice for voice to Connectivity. Tomorrow you’ll get a chance to meet Diane Giuffre who has been knee-deep in getting Duet Hosted ready for our customers. Remember, if you’re in Vegas for Channel Partners, don’t miss Bernie McGroder’s session today or MegaPath University tomorrow!

5 Minutes with Tommy Triplett of Rumbi Island Grill

Is there anything better than a good story? Tommy Triplett was kind enough to tell his story by sharing this video of his customer experience.

For people like us here at MegaPath, where we’re managing network access, voice, and security services to literally thousands of customers in all industries, and solving a very diverse range of network connectivity-based problems for them, we hear customer stories all the time. And that’s great because we just never tire of them. Learning how we helped a customer address their big IT priorities and meet some interesting challenges is the kind of insight that drives us. It’s equally important when we can get a glimpse of typical day-in-the-life stuff that really does matter to our customers.

Watch Tommy describe how MegaPath is helping Rumbi Island Grill, an aggressively expanding Hawaiian restaurant group, put connectivity to work in its 22 locations across Arizona, Colorado, and Utah. Their fun, innovative dining experience is well-served by MegaPath MPLS virtual private network (VPN) , Managed Security, and PCI compliance services. Tommy leads the IT project management team. He was challenged by rolling out new restaurants, but without a cookie-cutter approach to site specs, network user needs and broadband access services. He needed the best-fit type of flexible approach that MegaPath provides in our site-to-site MPLS VPN solutions. We’re helping Rumbi Island Grill to protect their network assets and customer credit card transactions, plus putting access to system status into the hands of Tommy’s team through a customer portal that they “just love”.

Tommy tells their story best, so please watch Success at Rumbi Island Grill.

For more information about how MegaPath ensures PCI compliance for restaurants and retailers like Rumbi Island Grill, start here.

How Secure, Reliable SSL VPN Service Works

There’s no denying that this has been the week for iPad news domination.

Good, bad, or indifferent — people are certainly talking about the iPad! I can’t think of any news source I’ve seen this week that didn’t include some mention of Apple’s new mobile device. Fast Company featured a story this week called “Apple iPad Launch by the Numbers” that provides a good glimpse at the growing trends toward relying on mobile devices to tap into whatever information sharing and use, or interactive conversations we want, whenever we want. The flexibility is just so powerful. It’s that same on-the-fly usefulness that applies to people who access and rely on your organization’s network for the applications and information resources that are most critical to their work or business. The trend towards more users connecting into your network using a variety of personally owned or business-provided devices at any time, from anywhere presents complex, multi-layered security issues for the IT leaders tasked with managing these critical capabilities. We definitely know that the trend isn’t going to reverse itself — not hardly. Can IT leaders restrict access to critical network resources to an ‘approved list of devices’?

Remember the old story of the little Dutch boy who poked his finger in the dike to plug a leak? Whew! — then a new one sprung up, and another, and another until he ran out of fingers. How did that work out for him?

A better security method for proactive IT organizations is to embrace the realities of a burgeoning population of mobile wireless users, and engineer your network with practical, scalable means to provide secure remote access to the critical resources your mobile users need. This is moving away from a ‘nice to have’ into a necessity. Managed SSL VPN services are designed to securely enable user access methods by defining control policies and combining them with end point control and policy zones. This type of flexibility defines the type of access environment a user experiences — essentially providing even your most far-flung iPad-toting globetrotters with reliable connectivity and information sharing, while ensuring that your network hums along without compromise. Done right, this SSL VPN-enabled secure connectivity can even be a competitive advantage.

To learn how MegaPath SSL VPN services work, start here.

Let us hear your thoughts and questions!

Internet Security issues have been getting a lot of press lately.  Facebook, Twitter and LiveJournal have been the targets of recent attacks, and CNET points out that not keeping your security up to date could be part of what is enabling such activitiy.  SMBs and Enterprises should take this time to review their security profile, and make sure they have considered these 10 managed security services.  By working with a service provider that can offer managed services such as these, you know you have a team of professionals working 24/7 to mitigate and respond to any security threats.

1. Managed Firewall: Detect and block suspicious network traffic
2. Intrusion Prevention: Proactive protection against known and emerging threats
3. Anti-Virus/Anti-Spyware: Comprehensive real-time network protection
4. Spam Tracker: Detect and manage spam on end-user desktops
5. Web Filtering: Manage employee Internet access with White list/Black list and content filtering
6. Site-to-Site IPsec VPN: Securely share files, applications and resources among fewer than 5 locations
7. Site-to-Site MPLS VPN: Securely share files, applications and resources among 5 or more locations
8. Managed SSL VPN: Securely connect retail owners to their franchises, and workers to corporate applications in case of disaster
9. Personal Protection Suite: Managed protection for your entire workforce
10. Secure Payment Processing: Secure, PCI Compliant connectivity to credit, debit and gift card processors