iGATE Clinical Research International was one of the first clinical trials management companies to establish operations in India in 1997. The organisation today has the advantage of leveraging the expertise of iGATE Global Solutions, an IT company based in Bangalore.

Given the typicality of the business, the data flowing on the network revolves around patients, who are an ongoing part of the clinical trials and field staff posting data from various doctors' clinics. Networking among locations holds significance in this kind of a scenario. Biztech2.0 spoke to William Dias, system analyst, iGate Clinical Research International, to know more about how the company leverages IT for its various operations.

What is your role as a system analyst at iGate Clinical Research?

Primarily, a system analyst’s role is to manage user administration, password, security, firewall, intrusion prevention and detection, e-mail and bandwidth efficiency. Moreover, there are daily back-ups to be taken; firstly at the fireproof location in the office and later, at an offsite location as well. We also try to maintain the temperature in the server area at a consistent level. There is an automatic recording system that sends an alert via SMS or call in case of any variation observed in the set temperature. There is also a log maintained, which contains temperature recordings at specific time intervals.

We have a Cyberoam firewall that has an IP-based as well as user ID-based prevention feature. The previous Firewall gave us only IP-based prevention, so if the user was on a different IP, he would not get access; however, now it is user-ID based, so whichever PC he logs on to, he can still get access. Thus, we now follow a token-based access system. Each token has a number and log-in to the system.

Describe the network architecture at iGate Clinical Research.

We have lease line connectivity with a router at the Mumbai office and a CISCO firewall. Users can get remote access through VPN too. They are provided with a data card that enables Internet connectivity.

For security purpose, users are only allowed to access the Internet that comes under the company’s network. Every user is allowed to connect to the Internet only through our network. Ports are blocked and audited. Any user connecting a digital camera, MP3, pen drive, USB or IPod to the system or basically anything having a hard disk is strictly monitored.

For LAN and WAN, we have a two-tier switching architecture. For WAN, we have a 1Gbps Core switch and Access switch. Earlier we used Nortel switches for this purpose. The LAN architecture is based on redundant cables, Cat 6 cables for data and Cat 5e for voice.

Which are the recent investments done by the company on the hardware and software front?

On the software side, we have migrated to Trend Micro Anti Virus and Anti Spyware. Prior to this, we were using the Norton server client edition. On the hardware side, we have purchased Cyberoam firewall. It is a UTM device that has an IPS, IDS, Anti-Virus and Anti-Spam Gateway. Initially, we had a CISCO switch.

Which was the last major initiative on the networking front?

We have enabled remote access to the database for our users. Earlier, the employees collecting data from doctors' clinics on Excel sheets had to reach the office and file the information again on the company server. Alternatively, the information had to be mailed as an attachment. There was a time lag due to that. VPN access given to users now allows them to directly access the database from the doctor’s location. It has made direct posting of information possible.

To activate this, we have introduced a token system whereby the user can log in to the system by entering the token number, which is backed by software.