The Company provides data processing services for banks, primarily commercial banks, in particular assisting small and medium-sized commercial banks to overcome the technical and financial challenges of card issuance by offering them outsourcing services in this field. As is commonly known, with the rapid development of information technology, the corporate information resources that underpin the survival and competitiveness of the company face attacks and threats in many areas. The numerous factors include natural elements, virus attacks, protocol bugs and human error. Of these, security risks are the biggest challenge facing the UnionPay service. The Company also needs to deal with, and effectively resolve, the risks of data centralization; yet the Company’s IT Department has deployed only a few staff members to conduct operational maintenance. Effective centralized management and maintenance of the system is also a focus of the Company. At the same time, the increasing size of the workforce means that PCs are unable to cope with business development.

In light of future virtualization, compatibility and expandability are also important development challenges. To cope with business development needs effectively, the Company compared solutions from various suppliers, and concluded that the IGEL endpoint solution could minimize internal safety risks by storing information in a data center rather than saving it locally. As IGEL is also equipped with a security management system, with secure hardware and connections, as well as anti-theft protection, this solution provides an overall safety guard for the client’s corporate information. In terms of expandability, the IGEL solution provides flexible and convenient options for expansion, supporting all forms of centralized management and effectively reducing IT management pressure and operational costs. Furthermore, the endpoint is more stable than the traditional PC, ensuring better durability and a higher return on investment. Given all the features of the endpoint, the Company chose the IGEL solution based on its superior security features.

The Company has deployed over 70 endpoints to date. Mr. Guan Zhuo, head of the Company’s operation management security department, said, “The endpoint really impresses us with its performance. It provides us a highly safe terminal platform in a reliable and compact case.”

Since the Company adopted the IGEL endpoint solution, security has been remarkably improved. All data and information is encrypted and stored in the central system; the built-in Linux firmware is read-only, which prevents viruses from invading the operation system. The endpoint also supports VPN and other network security solutions. Mr. Guan also pointed out that, “Compared to the traditional PC, the IGEL endpoint can better ensure data security, and has assisted us in improving safety and efficiency. In the past, staff accessed back-end services through the auditing system with a PC. If the terminal suffered hardware or system failure, work could not be promptly recovered and data configurations would have been likely lost. With the current framework, however, recovery takes only a few minutes and data configuration is managed centrally.”

In terms of system management, since only a few IT staff conduct operational maintenance, centralized management becomes an important consideration. The the all-new endpoint solution is a suitable tool to address these concerns. Mr. Guan stated that, “An important factor behind the company’s choice of IGEL, was the inclusion of a UMS (Universal Management Suite) with the endpoint.” “The endpoint greatly reduces the work load of IT staff. In the past, complicated system installation and program configuration were managed by a large number of IT professionals, which increased labor costs significantly. In contrast, IGEL provides a simple and easy tool to manage staff terminals effectively without intensive labor investment from the IT department. Updates, which were once very complicated, can now be done in several simple steps, which increases our working efficiency and reduces our operation costs.” IGEL endpoints have powerful functionality. Since adopting the IGEL products, operations have improved remarkably in many respects. Mr. Guan said that, “IGEL helps us simplify management and makes us more confident in IGEL technologies and products. We are going to promote IGEL in other departments and will see a wider application of its products in the future development of the Company.”