Don't Let Inadequate Training Stop Your Growth

Network security hasn't always been a complex IT concern. Tim Richardson, product marketing manager for IT services firm Akibia, Inc. (Westborough, MA), recalls when that all changed. "In the mid-1990s, the maturation of the Internet along with the proliferation of high-speed bandwidth services launched an explosion of interconnected networks among branch offices that changed the computer networking landscape forever," says Richardson. "Not long after businesses realized the value of being able to share data across the Internet, however, hackers and unethical employees realized the Internet's potential for exploitation." Akibia saw a correlation between the exponential growth of the Internet and the complexity of protecting the corporate LAN. It also learned that VARs that didn't change with the times were going to lose what Richardson calls a commodity war.

Richardson recalls one of the defining moments that caused Akibia to rethink its business plan of being a systems reseller. "One of our vendor partners at the time was pursuing a multimillion dollar installation project," he says. "In order to make sure it got the job, the vendor referred about a dozen resellers, including Akibia, to the client. Since each of the resellers offered the same basic products and services, it became a price war." As just about any VAR that's been around for more than a few months can attest, these battles can get ugly. Some VARs, desperate for a customer win, may actually take a loss on a particular job in the hopes of making money from the customer on future installations or services.

"Around the same time, our customers were concerned about the impact of connecting to the Internet," says Richardson. "We decided to dedicate one of our senior network engineers to researching the marketplace and finding out new opportunities our company could pursue in the network space." Akibia's research yielded a business change that would put the company on a brand-new course. Over the next three years, Akibia's systems reseller division would transform into a network security VAR division.

Prior to its transition to a network security VAR, Akibia's Systems Reseller Division was an approximately $13 million company with 25 employees. Since that time, Akibia Network and Security Solutions Division has grown into a $20 million entity with 40 employees. The last several years have resulted in double-digit growth for the company. And, by the end of 2004, it expects to realize $24 million in sales revenue.

Find Network Security Vendor Partners
The first step Akibia took toward becoming a network security VAR was to find network security vendor partners. Unlike its previous experience with the large networking vendor that selfishly pitted its resellers against each other, Akibia needed a more symbiotic relationship. "Our research led us to form partnerships with Check Point and Nokia," recalls Mike Cronin, director of finance and operations at Akibia. "The combination of the two products and their channel programs enabled us to augment the products with professional services, product support, and training."

After partnering with Check Point and Nokia, Akibia needed to get its networking technicians certified in Check Point's and Nokia's hardware and software offerings. Knowing it was going to be investing a lot of time and money in training, Akibia segmented its network security technicians into categories based on their network security knowledge and experience. "To this day, we have junior, midlevel, and senior engineers [which Akibia also calls consultants]," says Richardson. "The junior consultants help with basic network security device setups, and they also shadow midlevel engineers as part of their training process. Midlevel engineers handle the consulting process for jobs that require average-risk security deployments." Akibia defines the average-risk security deployment as single device deployments that can be easily removed or reconfigured if they cause a disruption to a firm's IT services. Senior engineers handle the most challenging network installations that often require highly available systems, have a high degree of integration work to support mission-critical data, and usually require 24/7 uptimes.

Train Consultants In All Aspects Of Network Security
Over the years, Akibia has expanded its vendor partnerships to include other network security vendors such as Akonix, Blue Coat, CipherTrust, Extreme Networks, InfoBlox, Juniper Networks, Microsoft, Nortel Networks, Packeteer, RSA Security, Trend Micro, and Websense. In order to maintain the various skill sets required by each of its vendor partners, it divided its network security consulting into six categories.

The first category is assessment services, which encompasses vulnerability assessments (VA), security policy development, and network audits. "Using a variety of open source, commercial, and proprietary tools, this group performs reconnaissance throughout our clients' infrastructure," says Richardson. "Their goal is to penetrate the clients' networks in order to help our customers discover their network vulnerabilities."

The second category is perimeter security, which takes into account firewalls, load balancing, and QoS (quality of service). "Consultants in this category pursue certifications and ongoing training in products from companies such as Check Point, Nokia, Nortel Networks, and Packeteer," says Richardson.

Akibia's third category of security consulting is intrusion protection. Consultants who specialize in this third category design and implement IPSs (intrusion prevention systems) from companies such as ISS and Juniper Networks to help customers detect anomalies in network traffic, including malicious threats, and alert the appropriate IT staff to any issues.

Akibia's fourth category of security solutions is Identity Management, which includes authentication and authorization solutions. "We have been a longtime advocate of strong, two-factor authentication solutions from vendors such as RSA Security," says Richardson. "Recently, new solutions have been developed that support our business practice of segregating IT services to secure single-use devices."

Akibia refers to the fifth category of security solutions as content management. This group handles antivirus, e-mail and spam management, IM (instant messaging), and Web-content management. Content management security consultants are certified in hardware and software products such as Akonix, Blue Coat, CipherTrust, MIMEsweeper, SurfControl, Trend Micro, and Websense.

The sixth category of consultants focuses on network infrastructure services, which includes wireless networks and devices. "The challenging aspects to wireless technologies -- in addition to encryption, authentication, and rogue device detection challenges -- are the issues traditionally associated with remote, unmanaged devices directly connected to the internal network," says Richardson. Consultants in this category become experts in networking products from companies such as Extreme Networks and Juniper Networks.

Collaborate To Stay Ahead Of The Network Security Learning Curve
Akibia's engineers spend 15% of their time in training, which entails vendor-sponsored classroom training, on-the-job training (i.e. shadowing), certification training from network security associations and institutes such as SANS (System Administration, Networking, and Security Institute), and personal research. In order to optimize its training investment, Akibia created a Practice Leadership program in which it paired employees within different job roles, such as engineers and account representatives, to do research. "As part of the Practice Leadership program, employees research new technologies, meet with new network security vendors, and even poll our customers, vendor partners, and industry analysts to determine networking trends," says Richardson. "By pairing employees from different job categories, we can get a more accurate perspective on whether a new technology, vendor partnership, or training opportunity makes sense to pursue."

In order to keep from duplicating its efforts, each small group that is assigned a task documents its research in a common repository. Some of the more recent information the Practice Leadership program has revealed to the company is that it needs to develop VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) services for its portfolio. "Companies that deploy VoIP have the same issues that many of our enterprise customers do," says Richardson. "They have concerns about QoS, high-availability networks, and network management capabilities in addition to their need for a high level of network security."

Presently, only about 20% of Akibia's business comes from new customers. The company is taking steps to boost that figure, however. It is looking into expanding its business down the East Coast. Within the next few years it plans to expand its presence in Connecticut and New York. During its expansion, Akibia's consulting and implementation offerings will likely change based on its Practice Leadership research findings. One thing is certain, however; it has no immediate or future plans to engage in any commodity wars.