Networked business activities thanks to the highest security standards

Fortinet enables Integrated Psychiatry Winterthur to be as networked as possible without compromising on security across 15 sites.

Project environment

With more than 800 employees, Integrierte Psychiatrie Winterthur, Zürcher Unterland (ipw) is one of the biggest employers in the regions of Winterthur and Zurich Unterland. The ipw is responsible for inpatient psychiatric care in both regions, tending to 440,000 residents of all ages. A pioneer in integrated healthcare, the ipw has run several local outpatient and day clinics at 15 different locations for many years now. Over the years, the ipw network has also become more complicated and the IT security requirements have continued to grow.

Project requirements & goals

When modernising their IT security, the ipw is relying for the first time on the innovative network solutions provided by Fortinet Security Fabric. To ensure the 15 sites can be connected and to introduce centralised IT security administration, the ipw chose the network security specialists’ integrated solution. In summer 2016, Fortinet partner Axians took over the implementation, assuming responsibility for the transition process.

Implementation & project outcome

Network traffic between the ipw’s 15 sites is shaped by the storage of sensitive data and the comprehensive exchange of information. If the hospital was to continue to guarantee their network met the highest of security standards, it was high time to replace the ad-hoc IT security solutions with a uniform, comprehensive security approach. With this in mind, Fortinet partner Axians began upgrading the IT security infrastructure in summer 2016. As the sites vary in size and number of employees, various FortiGate models were used over the course of the redesign. The rule of thumb was to keep latency to a minimum, with maximum response times of four milliseconds – despite the data transfer being encrypted. The major advantage of centralised administration: each individual FortiGate can be controlled from corporate headquarters, making it easy to quickly feed in security updates for all sites from one location.

Fortinet Security Fabric clearly demonstrates how simple and easy it can be to manage a comprehensive IT security system. We have already seen a reduction in our overall operating costs thanks to its time-efficiency, simplified configuration, maintenance and provision,”

explains Chris Zwicky, Head of IT Operations at ipw, when talking about the advantages of the Fortinet network solution.