Story Details

As Japan's largest system integrator and a leading provider of IT services, NTT Data prides itself on maintaining well-managed information systems. In particular, the company's Financial Systems Business Unit supports major financial institutions that demand a high level of confidentiality, data integrity, and security. In 2004, the company received third-party certification for Information Security Management System Conformity (or ISMS Conformity Assessment), a Japanese security accreditation and certification program. ISMS Conformity Assessment requires companies to meet criteria published by the International Standards Organization (ISO/IEC 27001) for security polices, controls, and audits. However, NTT Data wanted to go beyond these requirements and implement even stronger IT security measures.

Specifically, in its systems-development environment - where financial customers' solutions are created and tested - NTT Data was using traditional PCs with terminal emulator cards to connect to the company's mainframe. Because these terminals could access and store confidential information, the company wanted to make sure they were properly protected. NTT Data determined that it should either deploy additional layers of hardware and software security for the PCs or replace the PCs with small-footprint clients.

After reviewing proposals from three vendors, NTT Data chose to replace its PC terminals with Sun Ray 2FS virtual display clients. The decision was based on the device's fast performance, security-enhancing design, simple setup, and minimal maintenance requirements. NTT had tried out the devices in a demonstration at Sun's Customer Briefing Center in Tokyo, where Sun's latest products and technologies can be experienced firsthand. For security and data protection purposes, the virtual display clients don't have built-in hard disks, which means that there's no way to retrieve information from the devices if they are stolen. "With the Sun Ray 2FS, we finally achieved the level of terminal security we sought," says Tadashi Omura, divisional manager of NTT Data's Financial Systems Business Unit. "In a recent renewal audit of the ISMS Compliance Assessment, we received a comment of 'well done.' "

The Sun Ray 2FS is much smaller than a PC, which frees up desk space. Additionally, it is a low power device and is easier to maintain, which saves on IT time and costs. "For security purposes, we used to reformat our PC-based terminals every time they were assigned to a different employee," says Kazuki Yokoi, IT manager for NTT Data's Financial Systems Business Unit. "Now, there is no need for this step. Overall, we estimate that we've reduced the maintenance workload by at least 90%."

A total of nine Sun Fire X4100 M2 and two Sun Fire X2100 M2 servers support the Sun Ray environment, including primary and disaster-recovery functionality. Specifically, the Sun Ray devices are powered by Sun Fire X4100 M2 servers running the Solaris 10 Operating System and Sun Ray Server Software 3.1. On the back end, these servers are connected to other Sun Fire X4100 M2 servers running Windows Server 2003 that support the company's Windows network. This network is, in turn, connected to the company's Fujitsu mainframe via Sun Fire X2100 M2 servers running third-party TCPLink Enterprise Server software to support TCP/IP terminal emulation. Storage is provided by a Sun StorageTek 6140 array. The solution is backed by SunSpectrum Support. Sixty Sun Ray devices have been deployed, and by 2011, all remaining systems-development PC-based terminals will be replaced.

Based on the positive results seen so far, NTT Data expects to expand deployment soon to include environments beyond systems development and eventually to include other business units. Omura concludes, "This project began as a pilot within the Financial Systems Business Unit, but taking a medium- to long-term outlook, we plan to spread our success throughout the company."

 
Copyright 2004-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc.