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The increasing need to implement on-line services for all industries has placed greater focus upon the security tools and systems deployed to protect the corporate network. The demand for cyber security is further needed when IT solutions are built to operate in the cloud. As more business activities are migrated to the on-line channel the security protection systems must cater for a variety of applications. This includes access for enterprise users who are mobile, working from home, or situated at business partner locations. The key security measures deployed to protect the enterprise perimeter include firewalls, network routers, and access gateways. In addition, a set of controls are also in place for cloud enabled IT solutions. Collectively these components make-up a set of protection systems referred to as the security zones. In this paper we outline a security zone model that has been deployed in practice in several commercial enterprises. The zone model serves as a design template for securing the corporate and cloud networks. The blueprint may be used as guide to validate existing architectures or to assist in the design of new deployments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The banking experience for many people today is fundamentally an application of technology to be able to carry out their financial tasks. While the need to visit a bank branch remains essential for a number of activities, increasingly the need to support mobile usage is becoming the central focus of many bank strategies. The core banking systems that process financial activity must remain highly available and able to support large volumes of transactional activity. These systems represent a long term investment for banks and when the need arises to modernize these large systems, the transformation initiative is often very expensive and of high risk. We present in this paper our experiences in bank modernization and transformation, and outline the strategies for rolling out these large programs. As banking institutions embark upon transformation programs to upgrade their banking channels and core banking systems, it is hoped that the insights presented here are useful as a framework to support these initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Telecommunications operators are well versed in deploying 2G and 3G wireless networks. These networks presently support the mobile business user and/or retail consumer wishing to place conventional voice calls and data connections. The electrical power industry has recently commenced transformation of its distribution networks by deploying smart monitoring and control devices throughout their networks. This evolution of the network into a 'smart grid' has also motivated the need to deploy wireless technologies that bridge the communication gap between the smart devices and information technology systems. The requirements of these networks differ from traditional wireless networks that communications operators have deployed, which have thus far forced energy companies to consider deploying their own wireless networks. We present our experience in deploying wireless networks to support the smart grid and highlight the key properties of these networks. These characteristics include application awareness, support for large numbers of simultaneous cell connections, high service coverage and prioritized routing of data. We also outline our target blueprint architecture that may be useful to the industry in building wireless and fixed networks to support the smart grid. By observing our experiences, telecommunications operators and equipment manufacturers will be able to augment their current networks and products in a way that accommodates the needs of the emerging industry of smart grids and intelligent electrical networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]