Case Study

University of the Arts London

What we did for UAL

Wingman Firewalls

Industry: Education

Published: 23/11/2021

Project Overview

University of the Arts London (UAL) had a requirement to upgrade their existing firewalls as they were approaching End of Life and therefore started evaluating the market. SEP2 provide UAL with a co-managed service using Check Point products, which helps deliver continuous improvements to the existing infrastructure. This ensures UAL can continue doing what they do best, building the future.

The Challenge

End of life firewalls
High user traffic during peak times
Need for scalable solutions

The Solution

Upgraded firewalls
Co-managed service
Flexible partnership

The Challenge

UAL are one university that combines six colleges and a growing number of institutes; they are a high-profile client with high profile alumni. UAL specialise in a growing number of areas including art, design, communications, fashion, performing arts and game design.
University of the Arts London (UAL) is ranked 2nd in the world for Art and Design according to the 2021 QS World University Rankings®, for the third year in a row. It is Europe’s largest specialist art and design university, with over 19,000 students from more than 130 countries. Each of these students need seamless technical onboarding, a process that includes email, wifi passwords, shared drive access, tutorials and much more.

UAL were using Check Point firewalls, which were deemed to be best value to fulfill their requirements. Check Point were asked to present a trusted reseller who would best fit the refresh project; SEP2 were the obvious choice. Whilst protection was at the heart of the project, UAL also wanted to ensure that a solution could work at scale and be future-proofed. This was not intended to be a short-term solution. Clearly, with such a surge in users during induction week, UAL had high demands for support during these critical periods.
The students themselves are often working with technology as part of their studies. Game design is an obvious example... but even the sewing machines used by fashion students are networked.

The Solution

UAL need flexibility in their partnerships. They are not a typical client, they have a huge surge in demand at the start of the academic year, and then ongoing challenges to face throughout the year. An off-the- shelf solution will not work. Additionally, this is a co-managed project. UAL have their own in-house specialists which they want to continue to use, so a 3rd party would only be needed for 3rd line escalations, larger projects and consultation. Finally, it was important that there was a cultural fit, too. UAL are a creative force with creative students, so are always looking for a great fit with key suppliers.

UAL decided to partner with SEP2 due to SEP2’s deep undersanding of the need for flexibility. SEP2 invested time in learning about the higher education sector, including the factors that drive peaks and troughs in demand, enabling them respond appropriately.
UAL recognised SEP2’s dedication to their customers, who were known for going the extra mile, even performing firewall updates
at one minute past midnight when necessary. With extensive experience in co-managed projects, SEP2 understood the critical role of clear communication in efficiently resolving issues.

Building a secure future

The partnership between SEP2 and University of the Arts London ensures that UAL can focus on what they do best, building the future of art and design. SEP2 looks forward to maintaining and strengthening their partnership, ensuring success and robust security for the future.

Client Testimonial

“SEP2 work with UAL, not for them.

They live and breathe the technology. It comes from the top, however everyone is an expert within SEP2, from sales through to the service desk

We don’t want to wait to be told what more we can get from vendors’ products. SEP2 are great in pro-actively helping us achieve value-add solutions. They aren’t about chasing revenues, they are about providing best possible value.”

Keith Joy, Head of Technical Sales

Testimonials

Hear From Those We Protect

You’re vendor agnostic, which is key for growth, and your team are providing really good insights in terms of the alerts raised. They also provide meaningful context behind them, which is great for us as an organisation,”

When we hit the limits of our knowledge, it’s having SEP2 there to say, ‘Try these things first.’ That expertise on hand is really important to us.

To have people like that around our account that we can pick the phone up to and ask questions was refreshing. Ultimately, we trusted SEP2 and we trust you with our cyber security.

Often the term used is ‘you can’t see the wood for the trees’. Most organisations implement security tooling tools and you’ve got different dashboards. The idea is you put them into a single place, and leverage expert resource such as the SEP2 SOC that actually understands that data and work with it on a daily basis. They can assess it case-by-case and escalate it back to us at Funding Circle only when necessary. And that whole process has been really, really smooth.

They are phenomenal: both personable and very knowledgeable. Our main contact is like a fountain of knowledge. If you ask him a question, he always comes back with ten answers – all the shades of grey, not just a ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ To me that shows the level of passion he has, and that he really wants to do things properly.

The original group of people who founded SEP2 were very deep in their knowledge of this type of technology, which can be complicated. It’s become the whole field of firewalls, intrusion prevention, antivirus, ransomware, etc. Cyber security as a whole has really ballooned, and there’s lots of dimensions to it, but you’ve managed to keep up.

During the evaluation process it was clear to me that SEP2 were the strongest candidate from a technical standpoint. During our first meeting, their ability to give immediate solutions to ongoing issues we were experiencing at the time was a breath of fresh air.

SEP2 are knowledgeable, motivated and switched on; they take ownership and they have a drive for resolution. They know their stuff! They are not merely a firewall partner, they are a cyber security partner. They take a strategic approach. They are approachable and offer additional value outside of their support contract. Working with SEP2 means we are no longer fire-fighting; rather we can now take a step back and proactively get things sorted. SEP2 say they are tech driven and people powered, and that’s exactly what they are! It all comes down to the people you are dealing with.

They live and breathe the technology. It comes from the top, however, everyone is an expert within SEP2, from sales through to the service desk. We don’t want to wait to be told what more we can get from vendors’ products. SEP2 are great in pro-actively helping us achieve value-add solutions. They aren’t about chasing revenues, they are about providing best possible value.