NTT Communications Corporation
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NTT Communications Establishes Secure Home Working Environment with Citrix
“We are still measuring specific effects of TCO with Presentation Server, but we take pride in the fact that we have succeeded in enhancing the satisfaction of workers, which is the primary objective of the e-Work project.”
Junichiro Akanuma, Senior Manager, System Management Group, NTT Communications Corporation
NTT Communications provides global network services such as Internet service and offers solution services such as system integration and outsourcing business for individual and corporate users. NTT Communications hopes to create new value for communications in order to “contribute to realization of a richer society with a more secure and pleasant lifestyle as a partner that functions as a ‘connection’ between the present and the future.”
The Challenge: Meeting Employee Demands for Home Working while Ensuring Security
With increasing concern for work-life balance and flexibility on the job, and the problem of a dwindling number of young people burdened with an increasing number of senior citizens, NTT Communications introduced “e-Work” (home work system) to enable employees to care for children or seniors while performing their jobs. Kazuhiro Matsuo of the Human Resource Planning Group said, “We have tried the home work system twice since 2002. The scheme at the time involved a system environment using fat clients, and it required fundamental measures for protecting personal information such as preventing accidental leakage of information or unauthorized access.”According to Junichiro Akanuma, senior manager of the System Management Group, “Of course, measures to prevent leakage of information are important, but so are measures to protect employees working at home from information security accidents. This requires infrastructure to minimize security risk. We considered introducing Citrix Presentation Server and thin clients to create a more-secure application delivery mechanism.”
Achieving a Secure Home Work Environment
NTT Communications decided to adopt Citrix Presentation Server™ to establish a secure home work system. Yukie Nimura of the System Management Group said, “We evaluated other solutions such as encryption software, but we came to the conclusion that enhancing security through the combination of thin clients and Citrix Presentation Server was the safest, so we decided to go with it.”The company therefore began redevelopment of the home work system using Citrix Presentation Server and Microsoft® Windows Server® 2003 in April 2007. The system consists of three Citrix Presentation Servers, two data store servers and a pair of monitoring servers. Used by approximately 60 employees who qualified for home work due to the need to care for children or elderly family members, the system currently delivers Internet and e-mail applications such as Microsoft® Office and Internet Explorer®, and Adobe Reader.
e-Work Enhances Company Life and Increases Royalties
Nimura said, “We succeeded in creating a system whereby the necessary applications and data are centrally managed using Citrix Presentation Server, and the shared information environment is secured via authentication to the Virtual Private Network (VPN) using a one-time password. By doing so we eliminated concern about information leaks in one fell swoop. The fact that Presentation Server can deliver applications over low-speed lines with no stress at all is also a huge advantage. Because applications are executed on the server side and only the screen image is transmitted, response time is faster. Also, time required for changing settings and installation on the desktop has been eliminated, making administration easy.”Also, according to Matsuo, “Because users at home receive the same application experience as in the office, they do not need training to operate the system. Employees who meet certain conditions can take advantage of the home work system up to twice a week. In the future, we plan to review the system while reflecting on how it has been used since being adopted, and consider making it available to more workers.”
Akanuma added, “We are still measuring specific effects of TCO with Presentation Server, but we take pride in the fact that we have succeeded in enhancing the satisfaction of workers, which is the primary objective of the e-Work project. As a result, we have frequently been told by users that it has facilitated work and enabled them to use their time in a more significant way. As a result, they were able to raise their royalties.”