Surveillance Specialist Enhances Document Management and ...



Overview

Country or Region: United States

Industry: Defense

Customer Profile

Recon/Optical is one of the world’s leading providers of tactical aerial reconnaissance cameras. The company, which is headquartered in Barrington, Illinois, has more than 3,000 film and digital cameras in operation worldwide.

Business Situation

Key decision makers at Recon/Optical printed, signed, and exchanged documents manually. This was costly and prevented compliance with regulatory standards.

Solution

The company deployed an electronic document transaction solution based on IntelliSafe Vault and the federation capabilities of Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 R2.

Benefits

■ Paperless working environment that enhances operational efficiency

■ Time savings for IT professionals and end users

■ Compliance with Defense Trade Controls standards

■ Irrefutable audit trail throughout the document lifecycle | | |“Using IntelliSafe Vault and the federation capabilities of Windows Server 2003 R2, we are moving toward a more productive, paperless working environment.”

Carlos Solarte, IT Manager, Recon/Optical

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| | | |Recon/Optical offers a range of surveillance technologies, including aerial reconnaissance cameras |

| | | |that protect U.S. servicepeople from bad weather, chemical and biological agents, and enemy attacks. |

| | | |The company traditionally managed its business documentation manually, increasing administration |

| | | |costs and making it difficult to track information effectively. To address these issues and achieve |

| | | |compliance with regulatory legislation, Recon/Optical deployed an electronic document transaction |

| | | |solution called IntelliSafe Vault that supports electronic signing, distribution, and storage of |

| | | |legally binding documents. The application runs on Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 R2 with Active |

| | | |Directory® Federation Services to give employees secure access to the Vault from any |

| | | |Internet-connected PC. This reduces costs associated with virtual private networks and streamlines IT|

| | | |administration. |

| | | | |

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Situation

Recon/Optical is the world’s leading provider of tactical aerial reconnaissance cameras, with more than 3,000 film and digital devices in operation around the globe. The company supplies digital reconnaissance equipment to the U.S. Navy as a part of the Shared Reconnaissance Pod program, which represents a quantum leap in reconnaissance capabilities for the Navy and other armed forces. Recon/Optical also produces the Stabilized Remotely Operated Weapons System, a revolutionary tool that allows servicepeople to operate a variety of weapons with great accuracy from inside their vehicles or vessels.

Research and development are key activities for Recon/Optical. By investing millions of dollars to create next-generation products, it continues to meet the ever-increasing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance requirements of the U.S. government and its allies.

Because Recon/Optical works with high-profile public sector clients, it must guarantee the security of its business data, including contracts and other legal documents. It must also comply with Defense Trade Controls standards that help ensure privacy among companies that work with the public sector.

Historically, Recon/Optical’s chief executive officer, vice presidents, and other high-level managers signed, exchanged, and stored critical business documents using manual, paper-based processes and “wet ink” signatures—which meant high printing and storage costs. In addition, the use of hard copies made it difficult to track the latest document versions and ensure that records were always up to date. To ensure compliance with relevant legislation, create an irrefutable audit trail throughout the document lifecycle, and reduce printing and administration costs, the company decided to move to an electronic document management solution.

Carlos Solarte, IT Manager at Recon/Optical, says, “Eighteen months ago, we chose to update some of our key business processes. Some of the applications that we were using were 20 years old, and most business documents were still handled manually using paper. We had the option to deploy weighty software on every machine to exchange documents digitally, but we decided this would be cumbersome and expensive. Instead, we wanted a centralized repository where digital documents could be signed and stored.”

Recon/Optical also wanted to make digital documents available to employees located at partner sites and on assignment in other countries. But the company wanted to avoid some of the costs associated with managing virtual private network (VPN) software and the complexity of public key infrastructure (PKI) technologies, while ensuring data security. To do this, Recon/Optical wanted to place the document archive in the company extranet and protect its critical content.

Finally, the company hoped to provide access to a range of key business applications, including the new digital document archive, using a single sign-on process. Historically, secure access to corporate software depended on a number of passwords, resulting in numerous password reset requests, reduced security, and increased administration for IT professionals.

Solution

Recon/Optical uses Microsoft® technologies on both the desktop and server levels, so it began the search for a digital document management solution that could be fully integrated with the existing architecture. Through the Web site, the company discovered the IntelliSafe Vault solution from IntelliSafe Technologies. The solution allows legally binding documents to be signed, exchanged, and stored digitally.

“This application ensures the authenticity and originality of any type of digital content,” says Dr. Peter Natale, Vice President of Product Development at IntelliSafe. “It also replaces traditional overnight deliveries and ‘wet ink’ signatures with irrefutable digital signatures and audit trails throughout the document life cycle.”

IntelliSafe Vault is fully integrated with Microsoft server software and the Microsoft Office System of desktop productivity programs. As a result, employees can sign and exchange documents in familiar formats such as Microsoft Office Word 2003 or the Microsoft Office Excel® 2003 spreadsheet software.

Solarte says, “We operate an IT infrastructure based largely on Microsoft technologies. All our employees were already familiar with the Microsoft Office System programs. The IntelliSafe solution allows us to continue working with these technologies, while meeting our requirements for exchanging, signing, and storing documents digitally.”

The new system is supported by Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003 R2—the second release of the Windows Server 2003 operating system, which is the foundation of Windows Server System™ integrated server software. Active Directory® Federation Services allows employees at partner sites and remote locations to access the IntelliSafe Vault application securely from any Internet connection.

“The new federation capabilities of Windows Server 2003 R2 extend secure access to IntelliSafe Vault to employees at nondomain locations outside the firewall,” says Daniel Boggs, Application Architect at IntelliSafe. “They also allow IT administrators to provision user accounts and allocate access privileges to remote employees quickly and effectively.”

Because Active Directory Federation Services supports a sign-on procedure for all safeguarded applications, it saves time and administrative effort for staff at remote locations. It also helps reduce password reset requests and increase security because employees no longer need to write down multiple passwords in order to remember them.

Because of the authentication capabilities built into Windows Server 2003 R2, IntelliSafe developers were able to focus on creating features that enhance the customer experience. “Windows Server 2003 R2 provides a number of authentication features that we would otherwise have to develop from scratch in the Vault,” Boggs says. “The time savings that we get from this help us focus on value-added development work and deliver the best possible service to our customers.”

The electronic document transaction solution is currently being used to exchange contracts and other key documents among 15 to 20 high-level managers. With the new information security infrastructure in place, access to IntelliSafe Vault will soon be extended to the financial department and to employees on temporary assignment in other countries, including Iraq. With the extension of the system to new operational areas and employees, the savings delivered by reduced printing and physical document handling will become significant.

Benefits

The new electronic document transaction solution has greatly streamlined the process of delivering, signing, and storing documents at Recon/Optical. It also enhances the productivity of remote workers by providing secure access to key documents from outside the corporate firewall. In addition, Windows Server 2003 R2 helps increase the productivity of IT staff, who no longer manage multiple passwords, and end users, who enjoy a single sign-on process.

More Productive, Paperless Environment

Since the deployment of the new system, Recon/Optical has eliminated a number of time-consuming, manual processes associated with managing printed documents. “Using IntelliSafe Vault and the federation capabilities of Windows Server 2003 R2, we are moving toward a more productive, paperless working environment,” says Solarte. “We can now publish electronic documents to shared workspaces where they can be viewed by the managers who need them. In addition, we will soon be exchanging documents securely with employees in remote locations, and we have the option to extend access to business partners in the future.”

While a relatively small number of employees currently exchange documents electronically, savings related to reduced document printing and handling will later become very significant, according to Solarte. “We will start to see much bigger savings once access to the IntelliSafe Vault has been extended to new operational areas such as the finance department,” he says.

Savings from Reduced VPN and PKI Costs

To achieve secure access to corporate applications from outside the firewall, organizations traditionally use high-cost VPN connections and PKI technologies. By integrating the IntelliSafe Vault with Active Directory Federation Services, Recon/Optical can support secure access for remote users over any Internet connection.

“We are already seeing the cost benefits of protecting applications with Active Directory Federation Services,” says Solarte. “VPN and PKI technologies are very time consuming to manage. By contrast, Active Directory helps us set up extranet access quickly and effectively for employees working outside the firewall, allowing them to access IntelliSafe Vault securely from any Internet-connected PC.”

The ability to integrate authentication and access capabilities from underlying Microsoft technologies lowered the bar for the Recon/Optical deployment of the IntelliSafe Vault solution. “Supporting authentication using Microsoft technologies allows us to deliver even higher value to our customers and keep costs to a minimum,” says Natale.

Time Savings for Administrators and End Users

Active Directory Federation Services helps reduce administrative tasks such as password reset requests by extending the existing authentication capabilities of the Windows® operating system to allow secure extranet access. Because the system offers a single sign-on process, it also increases security by cutting incidents of lost security information.

“Mailboxes, user profiles, and security settings are now managed centrally,” says Solarte. “This reduces the administrative burden for IT staff significantly and helps ensure that incorrect or outdated user information no longer threatens security.”

End users do not need to enter distinct credentials to access the IntelliSafe Vault, and that means significant time savings and increased user satisfaction.

In the future, Recon/Optical hopes to use the more advanced features of Active Directory Federation Services to provide partner and supplier employees with access to the IntelliSafe Vault, even further streamlining user management by automating application access between organizations.

Compliance with Regulatory Legislation

The IntelliSafe Vault supports compliance with a range of regulatory legislation, including the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Combined with the authentication features of Active Directory Federation Services, it is helping Recon/Optical comply with Defense Trade Controls regulations for companies that trade with public sector clients.

“Compliance with Defense Trade Controls standards was a key requirement for Recon/Optical,” says Natale. “Using our solution, the organization can monitor and track documents effectively and achieve a clear view of their locations and properties. This ensures that it can face government audits with confidence.”

Increased Opportunities for Collaboration

In the future, the electronic document transaction solution can be used to exchange key business documents with public sector partners and customers in line with conditions outlined in Defense Trade Controls legislation. This will help increase operational efficiency and create irrefutable audit trails for documents throughout their lifecycles.

“When you can authenticate users remotely, you can integrate partner networks with your own,” says Steve Woodward, Technical Evangelist at Microsoft. “This collaborative potential is an essential focus of Active Directory Federation Services.”

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2

The Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 family helps organizations do more with less. Now you can run your IT infrastructure more efficiently, build better applications faster, and deliver the best infrastructure for enhancing user productivity. And you can do all this faster, more securely, and at lower cost.

For more information about Windows Server 2003 R2, please visit:

windowsserver2003/r2

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| |Software and Services

■ Microsoft Windows Server System

− Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2

■ Technology

− Microsoft Active Directory |Hardware

■ Dell PowerEdge 2850 server computer

Partner

■ IntelliSafe Technologies | |

© 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Microsoft, Active Directory, Excel, Windows, the Windows logo, Windows Server, and Windows Server System are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Document published January 2006 | | |

For More Information

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For more information about IntelliSafe products and services, call (888) 239-8515 ext. 303 or visit the Web site at:

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For more information about Recon/Optical products and services, call (847) 381-2400 or visit the Web site at:

“All our employees were already familiar with the Microsoft Office System programs. The IntelliSafe solution allows us to continue working with these technologies, while meeting our requirements for exchanging, signing, and storing documents digitally.”

Carlos Solarte, IT Manager, Recon/Optical

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“Mailboxes, user profiles, and security settings are now managed centrally. This reduces the administrative burden for IT staff significantly….”

Carlos Solarte, IT Manager, Recon/Optical

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