Krones AG Global remote access to central corporate data from various end devices including two factor authentication

Case Study

Krones AG Goes Mobile with NCP’s VPN Technology Krones AG is a globally top ranking producer of whole bottling lines as well as lines

for packaging beverages, food and other goods. Their decision on remote access for

their corporate networks fell on the next generation solution of NCP engineering.

Krones AG is world market leader in the bottling and

packaging sector. Not only is the company, with its

headquarters in Neutraubling near Regensburg in Germany,

specialist on bottling and packaging segments, but also

does it construct an increasing number of whole beverage

bottling and packaging factories. Krones’ specialists

supervise these plants from the project phase to

commissioning. Globally Krones AG employs more than

10.000 members of staff – 8200 of which in Germany alone.

A network of numerous Krones branch offices spans the

globe.

In the end, Krones global corporate structure defines

design and structure of the corporation’s information

technology. Their global presence demands mobility. Important corporate data, which is

accessible from within the corporate network, is to be and has to be accessible for Krones

employees while travelling.

Virtual Private Networks (VPN) with their technology of an encrypted tunnel within the public

internet, have been created for exactly this purpose and, in the meantime, have developed to

a vital element of the net infrastructure. Worldwide connectivity via VPN only raises

productivity if VPN access is not solely highly secure but also easy to handle. In the end,

VPN access with the most diverse of end devices has to be as easy as a phone call. Certificates help to prove activities

The remote access technology of the Nuremberg based NCP Engineering GmbH offers such

secure and comfortable administration and handling of extensive VPN networks. On top of

that, it integrates various operating systems and network components.

Case Study

It was especially this universality and the central management of NCP’s VPN solution that

persuaded the Krones AG IT specialists. At the moment, Krones uses about 4000 NCP VPN

client licenses as well as the VPN management server “Secure Enterprise Management”.

The VPN connection has been secured by a two factor authentication with certificate and

one-time password based on the product Aladdin eToken NG OTP. “Securing user activities

by linking the IP address with the respective certificates has been essential for us, in order to

comprehend and, if need be, prove the activities,” says Ulrich Schwarz, Enterprise Architect

of Krones’ Information Management.

The Regensburg based IT service provider, A.P.E. IT-Security, aided during implementation

of NCP’s VPN technology. For eight years, A.P.E. has been advising the Krones AG in

questions of IT security. Not only did the security specialist recommend and install the

mentioned two factor authentication, but especially did they write special software modules

for the networks of the Krones customers.

According to A.P.E. sales

manager Andreas Eichenseer, the

NCP Teleservice add-on was

developed in collaboration with

the project manager of the Krones

AG. The NCP Teleservice add-on

allows for an automatic adaption

and configuration of the remote

access client to the network

environments of the Krones AG

customers. Furthermore, within the NCP environment at Krones AG, A.P.E. developed and

introduced a central management system for IT data like customer networks, appliances, IP

addresses and access data.

Remote Access to Customers’ Networks

These supplementary software components were vital, because not only do the employees

of Krones AG use NCP’s VPN technology for remote access to the corporate network, but

also do Krones engineers use NCP’s VPN technology for remote access to machines and

plants of the customers.

Case Study

This means that with the aid

of NCP’s VPN connectivity,

not only the management

accesses SAP applications,

for example, or the

engineering specialists

access development and

project data, but also do

maintenance engineers

access control applications

at the customers’ plants.

This immediately involves large parts of the customers’ networks, because, owing to

comprehensive Ethernet technology, control computers of bottling and packaging lines are

now connected to the general corporate networks.

“VPN connectivity does not equal VPN connectivity”, Dieter Winklmeiner, project manager of

the NCP introduction at Krones, knows from his daily IT experience. Most VPN clients do not

allow for a connection of gateways from different producers, this feature, however, poses no

problem at all for NCP’s VPN client. The possibility to easily connect different gateways via

the VPN management was a decisive factor in Krones decision for the NCP solution. In

principle the NCP clients used at Krones AG connect to NCP gateways, however, a

connection to VPN gateways of other producers is possible, too. NCP engineering, Inc. San Francisco, CA 94111 Phone: +1 415 248 1249 Email info@ncp-e.com Internet www.ncp-e.com