Rapid Security Enhancement and Efficient Asset Management for Corporate Asset Protection
JP1 Combines Patch Distribution with Asset Management
Since July 2004, YASKAWA Electric Corporation (hereon referred to as "Yaskawa Electric"), an electronics manufacturer headquartered in Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture, has been enhancing its IT asset management to help achieve its objective of ensuring business continuity by establishing a thoroughly secure network system. The company adopted JP1 Version 7i, an integrated business system management software suite from Hitachi, Ltd., which it uses for asset management and distribution. Yaskawa Electric was able to strengthen its security rapidly and efficiently, thanks to JP1's ability to seamlessly integrate tasks such as automatic asset information collection, asset management, and automatic security patch distribution and installation. Yaskawa Electric is extending asset management to 12 companies, including its group companies, where approximately 6,000 PCs are under operation.
YASKAWA
Electric
Corporation
Product Division
Information
Systems Group
Assistant
Manager Toyoki
Matsumoto
"Ensuring information system security", says Mr. Matsumoto of Yaskawa Electric, "is an important corporate activity in terms of protecting a company's information assets and enforcing business compliance."
Yaskawa Electric is an internationally recognized electronics manufacturer in three fields: motion controls for industrial machinery and machine tools, robotics automation, and systems engineering for large scale plants.
In January 2004, faced with rampant viruses attacking through Windows security vulnerabilities, Yaskawa Electric concluded that drastic measures had to be taken to protect its corporate assets and decided to improve its IT asset management.
"There are about 4,000 PCs connected to our intranet," emphasized Mr. Matsumoto." He added, "In order to protect the entire corporate network and ensure that our business is not interrupted, it is imperative that we identify the location of any security problems in the network and take action as soon as possible."
In the past, employees installed security patches individually in response to notifications they received over the company intranet, which placed company security in the hands of individual discretion. As indicated by Mr. Matsumoto, "You can never eliminate human error. When protecting network security, you need to manage assets in real time. It is also crucial that management be visible and efficient, and that protection be automated."
YASKAWA
INFORMATION
SYSTEMS
Corporation
Solution &
Service Division
Sales Dept. iDC
Dept.
Manager Yuichi
Anami
After comparing seven asset management software solutions, Yaskawa Electric chose JP1 for its superior functionality and cost performance. Among Hitachi Ltd's seven available management solutions, Yaskawa Electric chose asset and distribution control.
"I found the asset management solution especially attractive because of its robust set of features and its high degree of management window customization", says Mr. Matsumoto. Adds Mr. Anami, "JP1 is an asset and distribution management solution providing well organized functions that allow seamless integration of several tasks including distribution, automatic asset information collection, and asset management. We considered these aspects of the product very important."
JP1 can be used to efficiently manage assets through the creation of tables based on automatically collected asset data, and to automatically distribute software or virus definition updates. This solution, which is capable of recognizing the configuration and operational status of client PCs in real-time, was chosen by Yaskawa Electric to "establish flawless security while reducing the management load".
Yaskawa Electric has used JP1 since July 2004 on all 4000 (approx.) of its client PCs to manage assets and distribution.
Installed agents constantly monitor client PC operating statuses. Any changes are automatically reported to the center so tables can be updated accordingly. JP1 enables the installation of distributed programs and allows users to instantly confirm that their PCs are free from unknown programs.
The management window can be stratified, allowing supervisors at branch offices or factories to see only information relevant to their work, while displaying company-wide statuses at the headquarters. In the event that specific data is required for management, users can independently customize windows at factories by adding those items they wish to display.
JP1 allows users to view configuration information and hard disk space in real-time, streamlining software distribution and installation. The window in the center of the screen displays the software installation statuses for all 4000 client PCs.
JP1 has two major advantages. First, it requires no dedicated relay server hardware because programs are gradually distributed through a relay server located in each local base. Secondly, JP1 uses free space on existing servers, minimizing the quantity of devices.
Mr. Anami explains the system as follows: "Basically, we set the system to collectively distribute and install programs on specified dates. We also use several JP1 features as needed, such as transferring large files by subdividing them to reduce the network load."
The use of JP1 has considerably reduced the burden of program distribution, downloading, and installation for both administrators and users while efficiently providing reliable security to an expansive network of PCs.
Current plans call for the expansion of these benefits across the Yaskawa Group by installing JP1 on a total of 6000 (approx.) PCs in 12 companies, with management to be controlled at the headquarters.
In the future, Yaskawa Electric intends to assign each PC an identification number to enable more detailed asset management and to extend control coverage to the management of leases and software versions. In addition, the company plans to build a "quarantine system" to check the configurations of mobile PCs connecting to the network and deny connection by PCs that do not conform to policies.
The latest version of JP1 includes features such as automated PC operation history recording and user alert for prohibited operations.
According to Mr. Anami, "The focus of security has changed from warning against outside threats to establishing systems that can trace operational statuses. We are looking forward to using the upgraded features provided by JP1 revisions."
Yaskawa Electric is experiencing unprecedented growth in both sales and profit. This is partly due to the concerted effort the group companies are applying to a mid-term management plan called "Win21 Plus". Network outages due to viral infection have been increasing, creating the potential for major damage. JP1 asset/distribution management solutions will undoubtedly support further expansion by Yaskawa Electric and its group companies.
USER PROFILE(As of March 20, 2005)
"MOTOMAN Center"-Robot factory
Internationally recognized manufacturer of motion control products including servo motors/inverters and industrial robots
