Albéa Chooses Zscaler to Secure Internet Access and Cloud Applications

Albéa is one of the world’s top makers of cosmetics packaging. The group wanted to support its international growth and development with a powerful and user-friendly network architecture that would ensure secure Internet access for employees around the world. Albéa needed a high-quality solution that was intuitive and easy to use, but still provided worldwide protection for staff at the group’s headquarters and its 42 sites, as well as employees on the move. When it embarked on a project to reorganize its global network, Albéa decided to call on Zscaler, Inc., a leading supplier of cloud-based security solutions.

Though most of Albéa’s 15,000 employees are engaged directly in production, the group has more than 5,000 staff connecting to the Internet and to the firm’s intranet. Since some employees travel frequently, they needed effective protection from online threats as well as secure remote access to data in the corporate network and in the cloud. Albéa sought a fast-to-deploy and easy-to-use solution that would not break the budget.

Albéa has used ZIA, the 100% cloud-based security solution for Internet access, since 2015

When Zscaler’s strategic partner, Orange Business Services, was commissioned to restructure Albéa’s global IT network, Orange recommended Zscaler Internet Access (ZIA), an innovative solution compatible with the modern work habits of Albéa’s staff. With ZIA’s cloud-based security features, every employee has the highest level of protection regardless of location (headquarters, branches, hotels, airports, etc.) or device (computers, smartphones, or tablets), since the security policy could follow the employee everywhere.

“We were quickly convinced by the Zscaler solution,” said Walid Ghalaini, IT infrastructure manager at Albéa. “It was able to achieve the high level of security required by the group. Technically, it helped us face the latest sophisticated threats such as the recent worldwide ransomware attack that infected a great number of businesses. As well as offering innovative and advanced technology, Zscaler was really attentive to our needs and quick to respond, so we felt we were in good hands at every step of the journey.”

ZPA, Zscaler’s new solution for secure access to internal applications

For access to internal applications, Albéa had been been relying on a virtual private network (VPN) solution, which was complicated for employees to manage when they needed to connect remotely. In terms of execution speed and user experience, tests conducted by Albéa proved that Zscaler’s ZPA (Zscaler Private Access) was almost twice as fast under certain conditions as the legacy VPN solutions.

“We’re living in a society where digitalization and mobility are ever more important in our everyday lives,” Ghalaini said. “Our users need help with the new style of working, which includes being able to connect to their workplace from anywhere they want, in an intuitive, effective and secure way.”

“Developing quick response capability, speeding up processes, working together effectively and above all in complete security – these are the big challenges every IT manager faces nowadays,” Ghalaini added. “We have to be innovative and find ways of meeting the new demands of this online generation.”

Next steps

Based on its initial success with the Zscaler security platform and its speed tests, Albéa decided to enhance its security with ZPA. The solution is enabling secure granular access to various internal applications, while avoiding situations where mobile users have access to the whole network – a common problem with VPNs.

With ZPA’s cloud-based approach, each user has a direct connection to a specific application based on detailed access protocols that can easily be configured and administered from a central interface. ZPA can be managed without any special equipment (such as VPN concentrators, firewalls or load balancers), reducing time and money spent on administration and implementation.

“Many of our employees connect when they are out of office, especially when they’re travelling,” Ghalaini said. “Albéa’s aim is to be absolutely certain that network access to the Internet and to in-house applications is completely secure wherever employees are.” Albéa began using ZPA in summer of 2017.

“We’re proud to have the opportunity to help the Albéa group to set up its Internet and intranet access protection policy,” said Didier Guyomarc’h, regional director of Southern Europe at Zscaler.

“The group’s choice of ZPA to ensure security on the move confirms its high opinion of the quality of our solutions. We will continue to support Albéa as it deploys the next phases, which I’m certain will give the group complete satisfaction.”