Unilever has awarded BT a 6.5-year, £10.5m contract to
provision and manage a global network firewall
service.
Some firms have hesitated in outsourcing their firewall
structure because of internal security, but large firms such as
Unilever are finding it increasingly cumbersome to manage and
update firewall systems as potential threats increase and
evolve.
The new deal comes after Unilever recently extended BT’s main
telecoms contract with it.
The firewall deal will see BT take over full management
responsibilities for Unilever’s estate of 256 firewalls spread
across 68 countries.
BT will transform Unilever’s regionally managed firewall model
into a single, consolidated global management structure in line
with the rest of its networked IT services.
BT’s global managed firewall service team will remotely manage
the consolidated system, enhancing security against virus and other
network-based attacks by applying a standard set of processes and
reporting procedures to each of the firewalls.
Geoff Thirlwall, vice-president of IT services at Unilever,
said, “As an extension of our existing service contract, we have
opted to transfer the management of our firewalls to BT.
“Our decision was based on a desire to transform the management
of the service in line with the rest of our IT portfolio and
benefit from the added global security that BT will deliver through
its standardised service”
Unilever’s leading brands include Knorr, Flora, Dove, Lynx,
Persil, Domestos, Marmite and Pot Noodle.
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