Comprehensive Threat Management Coupled with Data and System Protection

Executive Summary

In 1962, the Screen Actors Guild–Producers Pension and Health Plans (SAGPH) was established to provide healthcare benefits and pension services to actors and their dependents. As a non-profit organization, the IT charter of SAGPH is multi-faceted, focused on increasing customer service while reducing operating costs as each dollar saved is a dollar that can be directly passed onto members in the form of healthcare and pension benefits. With over 700,000 pension and healthcare claims to process each year for more than 45,000 members, SAGPH launched a strategic modernization initiative in 2002 to improve the underlying IT infrastructure of the main data center in Burbank, California supporting front office pension and healthcare claim processing applications. Under the guidance of Nader Karimi, Executive Vice President and CIO, and Kevin Donnellan, Enterprise Infrastructure Director, the modernization initiative focused on improving customer service, automating healthcare and pension claim processing, providing real-time benefit information, lowering IT operating costs, and reducing IT administration overhead.

The Challenge
SAGPH faced three major challenges. First, SAGPH was under strict budget constraints and needed to reduce operating costs while improving front office operating efficiencies. As a result, additional budgetary and staffing resources were not an option. Second, Web-based services needed to be redesigned to support the expansion of healthcare and pension management services. This included automating claim processing services and providing 24×7 online support to members. Third, the privacy and security of member information needed to be maintained at all times, not only to meet HIPAA compliance, but to protect the integrity and creditability of SAGPH.

Barriers
SAGPH faced three major technology barriers in modernizing its main data center. First, the existing backup and recovery environment was server centric and lacked the ability to support backups across a heterogeneous server environment. Both the server and storage environments would need to be standardized. The infrastructure also needed to scale to support information growth resulting from online claim processing applications. Third, the IT infrastructure—spanning from the data center to desktops and laptops—required a multi-layered security solution that would provide comprehensive threat management. In particular, SAGPH required a security solution that would drive operational efficiencies while providing robust, proactive management against malicious viruses and assorted other threats.

The Solution
In 2002, Kevin Donnellan and his team launched a strategic modernization initiative to standardize the SAGPH IT data center, starting with migration from CA ARCserve software to Veritas NetBackup software from Symantec. Consolidation of server and storage platforms were done in parallel, which were migrated to HP ProLiant servers and HP StorageWorks disk arrays. Also in 2002, in order to address a growing number of servers and gateways, SAGPH engaged Symantec Managed Security Services and deployed Symantec Manhunt network security and Symantec AntiVirus Enterprise Edition software. In September 2003, in order to reduce the implementation time of security patches and updates, SAGPH deployed Symantec LiveState Client Management Suite across its varied operating environments. To help ensure a secure instant messaging environment, SAGPH deployed Symantec IM Manager in August 2004 and Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery in December 2005 for rebuilding data center servers, desktops, and laptops. At the same time, SAGPH also added Symantec DeepSight Alert Services for proactive identification of threats. And finally, due to increased server growth and seeking an integrated IDS/IPS reporting and detection solution, SAGPH plans to integrate two Symantec Network Security 7160 appliances in September 2006.

Business Value
SAGPH is realizing tangible business value from the deployment of Symantec technology and services. Overall, SAGPH achieved total savings of $1.0 million from 2003 to 2005, and The Alchemy Solutions Group projects additional savings of $1.3 million from 2006 to 2008.

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