Snapt Reduces Security Risks for I-Track and Saves on Maintenance Time
I-Track Software is a US-based company that provides Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions to growing manufacturing businesses. By providing full featured economical software called Manufacturing Execution Systems, or “MES,” and Lab Information Management Software, or “LIMS,” I-Track Software helps clients improve the traceability of their manufacturing processes, increase efficiency, and reduce costs.
Key Challenges
Security
Performance
Cost
Key Benefits of Using Snapt
Robust application security automation
Cloud and Container integration and observability
Ease of use and customer support
Provides great value and saves time
SSL Offloading
Business Challenges
Security is very important to the team at I-Track Software, especially since they have clients with sensitive intellectual property (IP) that require top-tier protection of their manufacturing data.
I-Track Software’s solution architecture has three layers: their core product layer, their internal network layer, and the internet- facing layer. Ian Chizmar, Co-Founder and Chief Architect of the company, told us that with the internet-facing layer being the one most vulnerable to cyber attacks “there were of course a lot of question marks around how to provide the most robust security.”
In particular, I-Track Software had challenges automating the updating of SSL certificates every year – a process that Ian points out is normally an “intensive thing to do when you have multiple servers to administer”.
Ian and his team needed a solution that would not only allow them to put their concerns around security to bed, but also one that could easily integrate with their existing architecture in order to maintain the quality and efficiency of their service offering.
After trialing a few other products, Ian discovered Snapt Nova as the perfect solution for I-Track Software.
Snapt’s Solution
I-Track Software, with the help of Snapt’s pre-sales engineering team, quickly discovered that the cloud server environment that they were using had certain restrictions such as, not allowing installation of 3rd party images. This meant that I-Track Software needed a modern solution to work with their existing technology stack.
Snapt’s engineers introduced Ian to Nova – a cloud-managed scalable ADC for modern and multi-cloud deployments. “The team mentioned that Nova was a container-based deployable product, and that they could deploy it by running a Docker container,” said Ian. With Nova, I-Track Software did not have to worry about how the installation of images would be managed. All their team needed to do was “spin-up the Linux servers, while Snapt deployed Nova,” said Ian, adding that the integration with the cloud hosting provider was no longer a concern.
With Snapt Nova deployed in I-Track Software’s container infrastructure, Nova’s WAF immediately provided a robust layer of security accounting for SQL injection and Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF), improving SSL ratings, and protecting I-Track Software’s systems and users.
Nova also provided I-Track Software with load balancing features, which meant they could stay on top of logging, telemetry, health checks, and more. This helps them to maintain their quality of service and deliver on their service level agreements (SLAs) for their clients.
Ian told us that the quick setup and customer service enhanced the overall experience with Snapt. He was particularly impressed with the hands-on approach from the company’s Co-CEO and CTO, Dave Blakey. “My experience with Snapt has been really great. I mean, it’s rare that you get a CEO to jump on a call with you over a weekend,” he said.
Benefits and Improvements
I-Track Software has drastically alleviated their security concerns since adding Nova to their application infrastructure, as well as seeing improvements to overall performance and efficiency.
One of the most notable benefits was that Nova seamlessly handled the automation of the I-Track Software SSL certificates, including faster decryption and automated certificate management, significantly reducing the load on their servers and their staff resources.
“There’s a lot less maintenance time,” according to Ian. “It was about eight hours per year to do the SSL maintenance on our infrastructure. I could be spending that time doing something that's generating revenue, as opposed to just maintaining infrastructure,” he said.
Ian adds that Nova is also a much cheaper option when compared with the alternatives, which saves them thousands of dollars a year.