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Customer-at-a-GlanceUniversity of Oxford Astrophysics Department, Oxford, UK
IndustryResearch and Education
Number of Employees100+
Websitewww.GlobalJetWatch.net
Sophos SolutionsSophos UTM Sophos Remote Ethernet Devices (RED)
Sophos CustomerSince 2012
The Oxford University Astrophysics Department needed a low-cost, secure international network to support black hole studies in our Galaxy. They chose Sophos UTM and RED to build a secure network between the Oxford lab and schools around the globe, without the need for local IT expertise.
“There was nothing within budget or suitable for my requirements until I discovered Sophos”
PROfESSOR KAThERinE BlUnDEll
Oxford University Astrophysics Department
CUSTOMER CaSE STUdy
University of Oxford A customer success story
University of Oxford A customer success story
“This project is extremely innovative and includes unusual research. It engages young people internationally and is a fantastic application of our new product range.”
PETER lAMMER
Sophos Co-founder
The students and staff work on major facilities worldwide, they develop the most advanced experimental techniques and the most sophisticated theoretical methods to investigate nature at every scale. From the unimaginably large, probing the earliest epochs of the universe, to the everyday scale of the earth’s climate, and from plasmas created using powerful lasers, to quantum phenomena only observable close to absolute zero.
Business Challenge Professor Katherine Blundell from the University of Oxford Physics Department studies and tracks black holes in our Galaxy. for a new project, observing a black hole that emits jets of plasma that change constantly, she needed to monitor the black hole for continuous 24-hour periods of darkness.This could only be achieved by working in multiple locations – free from light pollution – around the globe. Katherine had considered obtaining time on existing telescopes such as the hubble telescope but dismissed them due to long waiting times, high costs and her team’s need for constant, dedicated observation.
instead she commissioned four observatories to be built in high schools, separated in longitude around the world, so she now has around-the-clock access to the skies. Once built, the challenge was to relay back to Oxford University the data collected by the students on Katherine’s behalf in india, Chile, Australia and South Africa, so that analysis of the data could take place.
The Oxford University Astrophysics Department aspires to be one of the best physics departments in the world. its dedicated staff are talented teachers and world leaders in research. By conducting cutting-edge research and teaching they help develop the careers of the next generation of physicists.
University of Oxford A customer success story
“This is an unprecedented, world-leading, astrophysics project and now children around the world play an essential part.”
PROfESSOR KAThERinE BlUnDEll
Oxford University Astrophysics Department
Professor Blundell needed a way to remotely manage the networks in all her observatories and to establish a secure connection between them and her Oxford lab. This would allow her to safely exchange information with all locations quickly and easily, without weakening the Astrophysics Department’s network security or that of any of the schools, who were using simple internet connections.
Technology SolutionThe Professor was initially unsuccessful in finding the solution she needed. “i was utterly held up until i could solve my connectivity problems,” says Katherine. There was nothing within budget or suitable for Katherine’s requirements until she discovered Sophos.Using the company’s Unified Threat Management (UTM) appliance in conjunction with four Sophos Remote Ethernet Device (RED) boxes, one in each remote observatory, she could securely connect to the observatories and remotely manage the installations there, without needing any local iT expertise. Even the installation could be done by a non-iT expert at each school – the RED boxes simply needed to be plugged in to the internet and the global VPn was established automatically, with all security policies defined by the Oxford-based Sophos UTM.
Due to the geographical scale of the project, Katherine needed the solution to be maintenance light and safe for schools to connect to. More importantly for the schools, most of which have little technical expertise or support, the new project had to be completely transparent and easy to use.
in Sophos, Oxford University found the answer. “This is an unprecedented, world-leading, astrophysics project and thanks to the Sophos UTM and RED, children around the world can play an essential part,” said Katherine, “i feel as if this product was created especially for us.”
Using the Sophos UTM appliance in her lab in Oxford, Katherine is able to link easily to the Sophos RED boxes in all four remote locations. All the information that is gathered by the students is safely and securely sent back to Oxford, without affecting the schools’ internet connections or requiring Katherine’s existing connections to be reconfigured. The Sophos UTM she uses, along with the four RED boxes, works well with the low bandwidth internet connections available for some of the schools, and all the systems can be securely managed and updated from Oxford. “This means i can easily work closely with the schools.” said Katherine, “The Sophos RED box is sublime. i can’t be in all four locations at once and the box just opens up the access for me. i can manage the whole thing, including installing drivers myself, remotely.”
Katherine was impressed by the straightforwardness of the installation. “it was easy, she continues, “i plugged it in and it worked. i’m not a security expert but i now have wonderful access to the iP switches and other hardware in my overseas observatories, and i’ve saved a lot of time and money. it feels as if all the information is just at the end of an Ethernet cable. The hardest bit was getting the wrapping off!” And if there are ever any technical issues in the remote observatories, Katherine and her team can access and fix them quickly from the Oxford labs.
“This astrophysics project is extremely innovative and includes unusual research,” comments Sophos founder Peter lammer. “it engages young people internationally and is a fantastic application of our new product range.”
University of Oxford A customer success story
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Oxford, UK | Boston, USA© Copyright 2013. Sophos Ltd. All rights reserved.Registered in England and Wales No. 2096520, The Pentagon, Abingdon Science Park, Abingdon, OX14 3YP, UKSophos is the registered trademark of Sophos Ltd. All other product and company names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
00007-07.13.RG.csuk.simple
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Business Resultsnot only is Katherine now able to conduct a ground-breaking astrophysics project continuously over 24 hours, but she has also provided an ingenious way of getting students from mainly developing countries involved in science. And they can do so reassured that, supported by the Sophos solution, they are protected against the increasing worldwide numbers of malware and virus threats.
The schools involved in the project would not allow access to their networks until they were convinced that Katherine had a secure solution, which she has now achieved. And of course, the University of Oxford has strict security requirements of its own that were also adhered to, facilitating this innovative international project.
With the support of Sophos, Katherine and the University of Oxford are bringing real world science to the lives of children who would never normally have exposure to such an activity, via this pioneering project.
With the support of Sophos, Katherine and the University of Oxford are bringing real world science to the lives of children.
