How Optical LAN can remove 84 points of vulnerability from your network

by | Oct 30, 2019 | Blog

Improve network security and access controls

October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM). NCSAM’s purpose is to promote a collaborative effort between government and industry to raise awareness about the importance of cyber security.

In support of this national initiative, Passive Optical LAN can drastically improve the physical LAN’s defensibility, enabling consistent protection policies that are centrally managed – all while reducing human error and increasing network stability.

The greatest proof of Optical LAN’s ability to tighten an enterprises’ cyber security posture by reducing a companies’ attack surface, is best illustrated by how OLAN reduces network points of vulnerability.

For example, let’s start with a copper-based legacy corporate LAN design that connects 4,032 Gigabit Ethernet from eighty-four 48-port workgroup switches and one distribution/aggregation switch. The process to harden this enterprise network to ensure secure operations would need to address:

  • 85 IP addresses to protect
  • 85 Switches to secure (Security Technical Implementation Guide, STIG)
  • 85 Switches to provision
  • 85 Software loads to maintain
  • 85 Physical equipment provisioning ports (CLI access)

Legacy copper-based network 85 points of vulnerability

 

Now let’s compare that to a modern Optical LAN architecture supporting the same 4,032 Gigabit Ethernet connections, from either eighty-four 48-port closet-based ONTs (e.g. ONT248) or a thousand 5-port deep fiber ONTs (e.g. ONT205) – in both cases you’d only need one OLT (e.g. OLT6) and one software defined networking management (e.g. Panorama PON Manager). In this case, providing the utmost secure LAN where security policies and procedures are implemented consistently, with fewer human errors and across a more reliable network would require:

  • One IP address to protect
  • One OLT to secure (STIG)
  • One OLT to provision
  • One Software load to maintain
  • One OLT provisioning ports to secure

Optical LAN can remove 84 points of vulnerability from the network

 

The math is easy. That’s eighty-four (84) fewer network points of vulnerability.

Now understanding that 80% of network outages are caused by humans, and 30% of security breaches are caused by humans (both through deliberate malicious and inadvertent accidental actions), you can see by the above example that the OLAN with centralized intelligence and software defined networking management is going to have fewer human touches which directly improves network security, reliability and operational efficiencies.

Last and not least, with a deep fiber Optical LAN design you can reduce, or eliminate, telecommunication rooms which means those rooms, and doors, no longer require expensive security and problematic access control.

If you want more information about our Tellabs Optical LAN highly secure solutions, please connect with us on  FacebookLinkedInTwitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

John Hoover, Tellabs Marketing Director
John Hoover
Director of Marketing
John Hoover is a Marketing Director at Tellabs and 2024 Board Chair of the Association for Promoting Optical LAN (APOLAN). Over the past 20 years, John has influenced industry milestones such as early passive optical network deployments, video implementations, wireless and more recently enterprise Passive Optical LAN adoption.

News Releases

Corporate news releases recognizing significant achievements of Tellabs operations, products, solutions and customers.

Case Studies

Hear directly from our customers about their successful installations, quantifiable benefits and sincere testimonials.

Events

Up-coming conferences, seminars and webinars where Tellabs products, solutions and people will be actively participating.

Blogs & Articles

Read these short, and regularly updated, opinion pieces covering contemporary industry and technology topics.

White Papers

Download our non-vendor specific overviews meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision.

Videos

Media to educate and advocate our products, technologies or services, and offer direct insight into our customer references and user case studies.

Enterprise

Tellabs Optical LAN is a true enterprise centric solution that offers a better means of designing and operating networks inside buildings and across extended campuses.

Broadband

Tellabs 1000 MSAP (aka T1000, DMAX, AFC, UMC) is the industry’s only Broadband Digital Loop Carrier platform that converges legacy copper and modern fiber connectivity.

Technical Assistance Center

Address your questions and challenges quickly with our award winning TAC. Flexible support options to meet your needs.

Professional Services

From small projects to migrations to full turn key services, Tellabs is here to help.

Training

Preparation is the key to success.  Get your team ready to plan, deploy and manage your Tellabs Network. Check our our Training Curriculum today!

Credentials

You worked hard in Training, now it’s time to show your new credentials off to the World through our Digital Credentialing Program!

Become a Partner

The Tellabs Advantage Partner Program is designed to offer our partners exceptional opportunities to grow your business, increase revenue and gain unique solution differentiation.

Find a Partner

For our end-customers, our Tellabs Advantage Partner Program offer best-in-breed services that match specific vertical markets and geographical regions with the end-customers exact needs in mind.

Leadership

Meet the Tellabs leadership team that represents diverse areas of expertise, and who are committed to exceeding the expectations of our employees, partners and customers.

Our Team

The Tellabs’ team is passionate in their pursuit of excellence in the office, their community and the greater industry.

Careers

Visit Tellabs’ online careers pages to see if there is a job opportunity that matches your ambitions. We offer excellent pay, benefits and career advancement possibilities.

Contact

Tellabs offer several easy options for contacting us. You can connect with us today via phone, email, online forms, or through social media channels.