Mark PughIT Infrastructure EngineerWiltshirehttp://www.apetito.co.uk/
With its head office in Germany and subsidiary companies in the UK, Netherlands, France and Canada, the apetito Group is one of Europe's leading suppliers of quality frozen food and catering solutions. The company was founded in 1958 to supply frozen ready meals and 'Meals on Wheels' to business canteens, schools and nurseries. Today apetito employs over 8000 people and provides quality food to more than 1.3 million customers worldwide. apetito's UK base is in Trowbridge, Wiltshire where the majority of products are manufactured, and recipes developed by a team of restaurant-quality chefs. apetito works to strict nutritional standards and believes in providing quality food that is delicious, pleasurable to eat and ultimately delivers real sustenance. Customers include Local Authorities, NHS Hospitals, Large Wholesalers and Care Homes. In 2005 apetito UK was awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise in recognition of its contribution and innovative approach to Meals on Wheels. IT Infrastructure Engineer, Mark Pugh looks after apetito's network in the UK, which covers two separate sites in Wiltshire and connects over 300 users with the company's main site in Germany.
apetito has over 300 users working in a Windows environment
Mark needed a proxy server to replace their aging ISA 2004 server, as authentication kept failing and the system was becoming increasingly unreliable. The recent growth and popularity of social networking also meant it was becoming increasingly important for the group to restrict access to Facebook and other sites that could impact on productivity. With limited time and resources available to him, Mark was keen to find a software-based solution that would be easy to set up, use and maintain. Cost was also another key factor. Mark looked at several different software solutions but most needed a Windows Server platform, which he knew would require more maintenance.
Mark downloaded and evaluated Guardian, and was pleased to find it easy to install and integrate with the group's NTLM user authentication system. Setting up filtering policies to suit apetito's AUP was a straightforward job, and Mark particularly liked the added benefits of built-in web security.
Mark describes the service and support he has received from Smoothwall as 'very good' and says he is in absolutely no doubt that he chose the best solution for apetito's needs.
We looked at plenty of other solutions including IronPort, ISA 2006, Surf Control and Barracuda but nothing could touch Smoothwall for ease of use and cost
We were looking for an appliance that we could slot in and forget about. Something simple to install and easy to manage. Other solutions sat on top of a windows server platform so would have had a higher cost of ownership
It's great having AV/Exploit protection in the same console
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