The core business of Zahnärztekasse AG revolves around financial services for dentists and therefore secure patient records. The 33 employees look after the fee management of over 1,000 dental facilities in Switzerland. Recently, the company introduced a new level of security, because in the face of current threats and threats of cybercrime, sensitive data can fall into the wrong hands. The dental facilities often ask about the level of safety of the IT products and services offered. In addition, it is necessary to comply with the new federal law on data protection, the Swiss counterpart to GDPR. Therefore, IT security is very important. A digital transformation was necessary, because the systems in use were not completely protected against current threat scenarios. Furthermore, Zahnärztekasse was also striving for an ISO certification.

 

Interfaces and platforms already digitized

Digitalization is a major challenge for the conservative dental market. Zahnärztekasse has responded to this trend by digitizing its assets including interfaces, various platforms (www.debident.ch and www.zahngeld.ch) and the iOS app Crediflex, and is now considered to be a market leader and pioneer in the field. As early as 2010, Zahnärztekasse started virtualizing its systems and built on this trend until the last systems were virtualized about three years ago.

 

Implementation of the solution within four days

Looking for the next step in security, it quickly became clear that VMware NSX Data Center and VMware vRealize Network Insight offered a very good extension to existing VMware systems. Because IT staff already used and understood VMware solutions, the project could be implemented quickly. “Thanks to good preparation, we were able to implement VMware NSX Data Center and VMware vRealize Network Insight in just four days and also jointly develop the basic settings of the firewall regulations. Implementing a classic firewall would have taken two weeks,” said Pascal Fröhlich, System Engineer at AGIBA IT Services AG. With NSX Data Center, individual systems can be completely separated by micro-segmentation and critical systems can be completely isolated if necessary. The data was analyzed with vRealize Network Insight, so that all connections between the different virtual machines could be evaluated. Thanks to vRealize Network Insight, the Zahnärztekasse can set and control security guidelines and compliance requirements.

 

Firewall capacity of 100 GBit/s

The key advantages of the implemented solutions are centralized administration, the simplification of processes, flexibility, and a massive consolidation of resources. The throughput rate is much higher than a physical solution, with 5-6 GBit/s (physical solution) versus 20 GBit/s (NSX) per host. The total firewall capacity in Zahnärztekasses data center is 100 GBit/s.

 

NSX is the perfect fit

In addition, the reasonable price of the VMware solution and half the implementation time compared to other options convinced Zahnärztekasse. Andy Hosennen, Head of IT Infrastructure and Support at Zahnärztekasse summarizes: “I can’t imagine working without VMware today. The solutions complement each other perfectly: VMware NSX Data Center and VMware vRealize Network Insight were integrated into our existing system like one building block on top of the other, fitting exactly and easily.” The successful project is also of strategic importance to Zahnärztekasse. “Protecting our systems from threats affects everyone – our employees as well as our customers. After all, our customers trust us to handle their data responsibly,” adds Andy Hosennen. The entire company benefits from cost reductions, increased efficiency, and automation in the data center.

 

To learn more, check out the Zahnärztekasse case study.