/ Infoscript chooses a secure, robust and self- manageable network solution on Microsoft platform
Overview
Country:India
Industry: Medical Transcription
Website:
Customer Profile
Infoscript Services is a 100 seater leading Medical Transcription company in Bangalore, with clients based in the US. Established in 1998, Infoscript was profitable within its first two years of operations and today has a turnover of US $1 million. It is an associate company of Accord Software and Systems Private Limited., a 13-year-old software company based in Bangalore that has won numerous National and State awards for excellence.
Business Situation
Medical Transcription is an industry that requires high security standards to ensure client confidentiality. Infoscript was running its firewall and email servers on Linux and these were managed by an outsourced third party service provider. Control and manageability of the network was impossible by the internal IT team, as they lacked expertise in the Linux platform.
Solution
Infoscript Services migrated to Microsoft ISA Server 2000 and Windows Server 2003 from a Linux based Firewall and Linux SendMail. They also upgraded from existing Windows NT Servers to latest Windows Server 2003 and from Windows 95 / 98 on client desktops to Windows XP.
Benefits
Increased security
Ease of manageability
Scalability and lower TCO
State-of-the-art network infrastructure / “Thanks to Microsoft ISA Server 2000 and Microsoft Windows 2003 Server, we have now the satisfaction and the confidence that we can handle security and manageability issues in-house itself.”
Mr. V. Narayanasamy, Managing Director, Infoscript Services
Infoscript Services Private Limited, based in Bangalore, started its operations in 1998. It is an associate company of Accord Software and Systems Private. Limited, a 13-year-old software company based in Bangalore that has won numerous National and State awards for excellence. Infoscript was established to provide Medical Transcription services to clients based in the US. It was profitable within its first two years of operations and today has a turnover of US $1 million.
The company constantly handles customer information and medical records that are highly confidential. This requires industry standard high security infrastructure to make certain that there are no lapses in the confidentiality of healthcare information processed. Internal control and manageability of its network infrastructure was also crucial to their business. However, Infoscript was running its Firewall and email servers on Linux that were managed by an outsourced third-party service provider.
Infoscript wanted an easily manageable but secure technology solution that would empower them to focus on their core business and not on managing their IT infrastructure. Infoscript planned to move to a different operating platform in June 2003 to tackle the security and manageability issues it faced with Linux. In February 2004, Infoscript approached Microsoft to provide a solution to meet their requirements.
Situation
Infoscript Services Private Limited, based in Bangalore, started its operations in 1998. It was profitable within its first two years of operations and today has a turnover of US $1 million. Infoscript is an associate company of Accord Software and Systems Pvt. Ltd., a 13-year-old software company based in Bangalore that has won both National and State awards for excellence. A 100% Export-Oriented Unit registered with Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), Infoscript is a member of the Medical Transcription Industry Alliance (MTIA) and a member of the American Association for Medical Transcription (AAMT).
Infoscript was established to provide Medical Transcription services to clients based in the US and today has three major US clients. Each client is a corporation working with several hundred hospitals, clinics and doctors. Infoscript’s track record has earned it an excellent reputation in the industry, both within India and in the US.
The company constantly handles customer information and medical records that are highly confidential. Employees log on to the client website, listen to the audio files of medical transcripts and transcribe them simultaneously using a customized application. Since this process is Web based, it requires very high levels of security. Once these files are worked on, they are uploaded to the customer site in real time for the next step of the process.
Security was therefore a major concern and there was a requirement for a secure firewall and email solution.
When it first began operations, Infoscript outsourced the setting up of its entire IT infrastructure to a third party service provider. Red Hat Linux 7.1 was installed as the mail server and came along with a built-in Red Hat Linux 7.1 firewall. Infoscript also had three Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 servers running Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 and Microsoft IIS 4.0. These were also managed by the third party service provider.
According to Mr. Narayanasamy, Managing Director, Infoscript Services, “We opted for Linux as we perceived it would be a cost-effective operating platform. Our in-house IT team however, did not have expertise in Linux and so we had to take critical third party service support for our Firewall and Mail.”
However, the stringent security standards set by the industry and HIPAA (The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) to protect confidential healthcare information meant that Infoscript had to consider the implications of a third party external organization having access to its network, and hence needed to rethink its perimeter infrastructure.
Another key issue that Infoscript faced was in manageability of the client desktops. This was becoming problematic since the IT team did not have the expertise to enable desktop restrictions or patch updates from the central server.
“We could not effectively check if our employees were installing any unnecessary files or software through the floppy drive unless we went to each desktop individually. This was time consuming,” said Mr. M. Rathan Kumar, Systems Manager, Infoscript Services.
This created a requirement for restrictions on client desktops as well.
“The email and firewall were both based on Linux and network management was also handled by a third party. We were totally dependent on them. We realized the solution lay in managing our systems and network completely ourselves,” said Mr. Rathan Kumar.
Infoscript planned to move to a different operating platform in June 2003 to tackle the security and manageability issues it faced in Linux. In February 2004, Infoscript approached Microsoft partners - Pacer Automation and DreamQuest Infotech Private Limited to provide a solution.
“I have been attending Microsoft seminars regularly and hence we chose Microsoft because their platform is reliable, secure and our internal team can configure and manage the network effortlessly,” said Mr. Narayanasamy.
Solution
Pacer Automation and DreamQuest jointly recommended replacing the Linux mail server and firewall with Windows 2003 Servers and Microsoft ISA Server 2000. The three Microsoft NT 4.0 Servers were replaced with two Microsoft Windows 2003 Servers serving as domain controllers. Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 was upgraded to Microsoft SQL Server 2000.
“NetIQ MailMarshal,” supplied by Satcom InfoTech, Bangalore, was installed for email content security and integrated with the Windows 2003 Server seamlessly. The software also supported FTP and could be also be used to block spam and viruses.
This ensured complete security as no third party service was constantly required to configure the network. Client desktops were upgraded from Windows 95 and Windows 98 to Windows 2000 and Windows XP.
With the help of Active Directory, which is a part of Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Infoscript could also remotely disable floppy drives on the desktops and ensure the prevention of unauthorized software installations by users.
“We have implemented a solution that not only provides a secure perimeter, but also provides high security for all incoming mail and HTTP based traffic.” said Balaji, Technical Director, DreamQuest Infotech Pvt. Ltd.
As part of the implementation, DreamQuest also trained the Infoscript internal IT team on the new Microsoft products.
Benefits
Infoscript has experienced several benefits further to their migration from Linux to the Microsoft platform. Their primary concerns of security, manageability and desktop restrictions have been resolved.
Greater control over security parameters
With the implementation of Microsoft ISA Server 2000, Infoscript’s major concern about outsourcing their Firewall and Email Server management were addressed. Microsoft ISA Server 2000 provided secure, fast, and manageable Internet connectivity through an extensible, multilayer enterprise firewall and Web cache.
“Knowing that control of our information security rests solely in our hands provides tremendous relief while conducting our business,” said Mr. Narayanasamy.
Ease of Manageability
Server manageability on Linux platform was extremely complex without in-depth training and hence had to be outsourced. Hence a simpler and better system was the immediate need of the hour.
“The Windows GUI environment was much simpler to use and we could manage, maintain and control the system very effectively without any ongoing third party intervention,” said Mr. Rathan Kumar.
In addition, Infoscript could effect desktop restriction centrally through the Windows 2003 Server using Windows Active Directory.
With its familiar Windows interface, Windows Server 2003 was easy to use. Windows Server 2003 provides secure networked computing also makes provisions for enterprise-class reliability, high availability, and higher performance, all out of the box.
Future proof state-of-the-art network
With a combination of Microsoft ISA Server 2000, Windows Server 2003 and client desktops on Windows 2000 and Windows XP, Infoscript now possesses a state-of-the- art, secure IT network that can scale easily as the company grows.
“We have stabilized our operations and there are several possibilities for the future. With our current infrastructure, we can tackle security and manageability concerns that may arise from expansion and scale our operations to service any such increased demands,” commented Mr. Narayanasamy.
Decreased Total Cost of Ownership in the future
Although upgrading technology has immediate cost implications, Narayanasamy perceives the long-term benefits.
“Investing in a Microsoft platform is an investment for the future. The platform is proven and we don’t have worry about compatibility concerns with other vendor systems. The long term value far outweighs the initial costs,” he remarked.
Future Plans
Infoscript would like to create a dynamic website that is interactive and where people can post resumes. The company is also looking at creating an environment where employees can work from home or other remote locations and will look to Microsoft again for this implementation.