Case Study: MachAlert

Don’t Let Downtime Hurt Your Business

Mach Alert is a fire station alerting (FSA) solution that helps dispatchers get first responders on the road to respond to emergencies. The solution was designed to provide state of the art functionality and reliability within the fire and medical alerting process. Their solution gives dispatchers the tools to get first responders on the road faster than ever before — while reducing stress and keeping their focus on getting the job done. Mach Alert allows for rapid response, seamless integration with existing communications systems, robust reliability, and expandability. The company has installed systems in more than 450 fire stations around the globe.

The Challenge

Mach Alert is installed in fire stations internationally, and with a growing customer base, the company needed a solution of its own. Rather than a solution to help expedite emergency calls, Mach Alert wanted more security for its data to ensure there were no breaches of information in its systems — and it needed a solution that was reliable to limit, or even eliminate, unexpected downtime. Mach Alert services literally help in life and death situations, so breaches or downtime just can’t happen.

Mach Alert wanted a VPN solution that was easy to use, reliable, and more effective with its business model. They also wanted something that could be used with two-factor authentications for greater end-point-authorization security.

Our Solution

OpenVPN Access Server provided Mach Alert with easy two-factor authentication ability. Mach Alert had the option of using services like Google Authenticator, and Amazon Web Services Multi-Factor Authentication (AWS MFA) to add an extra layer of protection on top of an employee’s username and password. With 2FA in place, unauthorized devices cannot connect to the corporate network in spite of using the same VPN connection profile and credentials. The flexibility with the OpenVPN Access Server also provided Mach Alert with the versatility to use different profiles for each end-user so that he or she can decide how they want to use the connection at Mach Alert’s facility. Each were assigned a unique Media Access Control (MAC) address that can identify the installer’s device.

Access Server runs on the OpenVPN protocol, which is one of the safest VPN protocols available today. Because OpenVPN is open-source, independent developers and cybersecurity researches are constantly testing the VPN protocol and implementing improvements. Once a new threat arises, open-source software is the first to receive the patch. This makes OpenVPN Access Server an incredibly secure and reliable VPN solution — so Mach Alert doesn’t have to worry about unexpected downtime or breaches causing problems.

This makes OpenVPN Access Server an incredibly secure and reliable VPN solution — so Mach Alert doesn’t have to worry about unexpected downtime or breaches causing problems.

Further Reading

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