Vietnam Airlines attains colossal cost savings of more than 60% with Palo Alto Networks solutions

Founded in 1995, Vietnam Airlines is the flag carrier of Vietnam and a major carrier in Southeast Asia, operating 94 routes to 22 domestic and 29 international destinations. The company has established itself as one of the region’s leading airlines, with its modern fleet and commitment to innovation and development, earning recognition from international and national communities through a series of prestigious awards. Vu Trung Thong, IT DGM at Vietnam Airlines, wanted to build “a comprehensive technology infrastructure by establishing an effective operational environment to deliver quality, cost-effective, and reliable technology services.” The legacy multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) network posed several problems to Vietnam Airlines, including cyberattacks, malicious and unwanted network traffic, unstable connection, and high operational costs.

Vietnam Airlines was tied down by a legacy network and security architecture that required a VPN connection, which in turn meant an unstable connection. Mr. Thong states, “Working with MPLS and internet lines, the costs that we had to incur were extremely steep, and reducing this and improving performance were vital considerations. To top it off, the VPN connection we were using was incredibly unstable and was routed through a data centre in Singapore, which affected the quality of service.”

Vietnam Airlines was looking at a network transformation to enable secure access for remote users worldwide while also maintaining high security and consistent policies across their global locations. “We wanted to move away from our complex network infrastructure and replace legacy networks. An unstable VPN connection caused traffic bottlenecks and highlighted a single point of failure. Additionally, we wanted to drastically lower the operational costs being incurred as a result of traditional network systems,” adds Mr. Thong.

In order to achieve reliable security across worldwide locations, as well as gain the advantage of increased flexibility, Mr. Thong and his team began to look for a security provider who was suitable for their environment. “As the leading government airline company, we needed to invest in a solution that would offer us a consistent solution that could be deployed across multiple locations globally. Cost-effectiveness was no doubt a priority, as we were incurring high costs that were not sustainable in the long run,” he says.

Vietnam Airlines was looking for a security partner who could help them accomplish the following:

• Reduce costs associated with MPLS/legacy networks
• Provide a stable connection with secure and reliable access
• Ensure consistent best-in-class security across worldwide locations with improved flexibility
• Offer strong local team support

“In Palo Alto Networks, we found the most suitable security partner, as they offered us advanced technology solutions that met our requirements along with professional services,” Mr. Thong says, before adding, “What stood out for us during the proof of concept was the fact that the local team demonstrated seamless support and capabilities to handle any possible crisis situations that could occur.” “Palo Alto Networks offered us a comprehensive, high-quality solution with ML-Powered Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW), GlobalProtect and Prisma Access. Prisma Access offered Vietnam Airlines secure access, reduced risk of data breach, best-in-class security, and exceptional user experience. Palo Alto Networks demonstrated immense value in comparison to the legacy, complex solutions we were using by offering a cost savings of more than 60 percent in the long run,” Mr. Thong adds.

Vietnam Airlines was using legacy systems such as MPLS and internet lines for its globally distributed offices, posing latency issues and significant costs as the unstable VPN connections had to be routed through a Singapore data centre. With the solutions deployed from Palo Alto Networks, Vietnam Airlines is now reaping cost savings of more than 60% over three years.

Palo Alto Networks NGFW, GlobalProtect and Prisma Access have helped significantly improve the quality of operations at Vietnam Airlines by ensuring data security of passenger, organisational, and IT systems information. A stable, cost-effective connection with enhanced user experience has resulted in an increase in employee and customer confidence. On top of that, Vietnam Airlines can apply Zero Trust principles to both their users and infrastructure, ensuring secure access for employees and the network alike.

With the same solution being deployed globally, Vietnam Airlines now has unified network management through a single pane of glass and consistent security policies enforced across all locations, adding to the ease of management for the IT security team.

With the pandemic severely impacting the airline industry, Mr. Thong realised that there would be a lack of capital to invest in security technology and infrastructure moving forward. Partnering with Palo Alto Networks is the start of what he calls a “secure relationship.” Having already realised tremendous benefits, including cost savings, this relationship is only likely to strengthen in the years ahead.