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For Security, Encryption and Ease of Use in Managed File Transfer, Kronos Turns to Axway
Success and Leadership in a Global Economy
Kronos Incorporated is widely recognized as a market and thought leader in managing the workforce. The Company has unrivaled reach with more than 30 million people using a Kronos solution every day. It is focused on delivering software and services that enable organizations to reduce costs, increase productivity, improve employee satisfaction, and ultimately enhance the level of service they provide. Kronos serves customers in more than 60 countries through its network of offices, subsidiaries, and distributors.
Kronos revenues for 2008 reached $715 million. They have had 115 consecutive quarters of revenue growth. The current, difficult global economy has caused companies all over the world to turn to Kronos to help them control costs and improve productivity.
Time for a Change
Kronos was seeing the effects of the limitations of its file transfer protocol (FTP) server. Customers that sent large files to Kronos were frustrated with the transfer system, because it was difficult to use and had no resume capabilities. Failed transfers had to be restarted from the beginning, which meant hours of waiting for larger file transfers. This was happening internally as well—very large files were occasionally copied to DVDs and mailed to their destinations.
Kronos customers needed a secure file transfer mechanism that made them feel confident when sending critical information. Kronos needed a solution that would automate large downloads, check for errors, and provide alerts if something went wrong. In addition, the types of files and information being transferred needed high levels of security and encryption.
Kronos customers and partners use a wide range of protocols, and have various technical skills and capabilities. It was sometimes difficult to accommodate them and Kronos support was spending excessive amounts of time assisting with file transfers, and working around protocol issues. Kronos' information technology (IT) staff was also manually deleting large files from the FTP server, as they were occupying much needed space.
Kronos Incorporated Corporate Headquarters, Chelmsford, MA
A Solid Solution
Kronos chose the Axway SecureTransport™ (formerly Tumbleweed SecureTransport) appliance for its managed file transfer (MFT) solution. Axway SecureTransport provides a single, integrated secure file transfer infrastructure for transporting information. It is a centrally managed client server solution supporting a broad set of open standard file transfer protocols including FTP, FTPS (SSL/TLS), SFTP (SSH), HTTP, HTTPs (SSL/TLS), and AS2.
The robust capabilities of the appliance have helped Kronos automate, monitor, and troubleshoot file transfers, providing them real-time visibility and alerting. Their customers also utilize Axway solutions for sending files to Kronos. The Web-based user interface makes transfers and troubleshooting easier, and the resume feature allows failed transfers to be resumed right at the point of failure.
Axway SecureTransport is a well-architected, secure file transfer system that is simple for end users to access while still providing a robust feature set and support for multiple transfer protocols.
- Doug Tamasanis, chief IT architect & director of networks and security, Kronos
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As files transfer to Kronos, they are accepted, validated, and secured by the appliance. The solution architecture includes a specialized edge appliance installed in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that has built-in features such as automatic encryption. The database appliance is located in a secure zone of the datacenter with no Internet access. This two-tiered architecture provides superior resting data security. In addition, Axway SecureTransport integrates with Active Directory for user authentication, allowing centrally-controlled authentication.
The solution was channel driven, through IT consulting firm Networks Unlimited. Networks Unlimited recommended the Axway solution to Kronos because of its scalability, low total cost of ownership, and data encryption capabilities.
Happy Customers, Secure MFT
Customer satisfaction has increased since Kronos implemented the appliance. Customers find the Web-based user interface easier to use, and sending and receiving files is less time consuming than with the FTP server. Since the Active Directory customer database has been integrated with the solution, customers can log in, update their information, and send files in the same place, with the same high level of security.
Kronos support has fewer issues relating to failed file transfers, and the central management and automation has provided visibility and control of file transfer. Since files are automatically deleted, the system is not bogged down with huge files. Also, IT staff no longer has to manually delete them, reducing administration efforts. Finally, security of the customer database and incoming and outgoing files is higher than ever. With the solution's reporting capabilities, Kronos can face any security audit with ease.
"Axway SecureTransport is a well-architected, secure file transfer system that is simple for end users to access while still providing a robust feature set and support for multiple transfer protocols," said Doug Tamasanis, chief IT architect and director of networks and security, Kronos.
Learn more about Kronos at www.kronos.com.
For complete information on Axway's managed file transfer portfolio, start here.
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