Based in Boston, Massachusetts, Loomis, Sayles & Company is one of America’s oldest investment advisory firms, established in 1926. The company is known for its professional research staff, which is one of the largest in the industry. Loomis Sayles provides institutional and mutual fund clients with investment management services; currently, the firm manages more than $130 billion in equity and fixed income assets. Company locations include San Francisco, Washington DC and Chicago.

The Challenge: Strong Information Security to Meet Customer Requirements

Loomis Sayles began using Citrix Presentation Server™ in 2002 — first for remote access and disaster recovery, and subsequently to deliver about 20 applications, particularly the Charles River Trader solution, to employees. “Instead of deploying the Charles River client on every trading desk, we delivered it using Presentation Server,” explained David Mickelson, chief technical architect. “Citrix also allowed us to support satellite offices without dedicated staff.”

Recently, the company faced a new challenge — the demand from a prospective client to demonstrate its systems for securing data and application access. “These days, clients are very concerned about protection of their confidential financial information,” said Mickelson. “In this case, the client stipulated that for Loomis Sayles to win their business, we had to have an access security policy in place for our trading and portfolio applications. It was critical for us to implement a strong enforcement solution to gain this large account.” Another important driver was compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Expanding Application Delivery with Citrix

To meet the growing need for stronger security, Loomis Sayles implemented Citrix Presentation Server, Platinum Edition leveraging its single sign-on functionality powered by Citrix Password Manager™. Mickelson said, “One of the key reasons we decided to upgrade to the Platinum Edition was seamless integration of this password security functionality with Presentation Server. Users could log in to Presentation Server using Web Interface and have those credentials pass through to the underlying applications.” Another reason was the Citrix product’s support for leading multifactor authentication solutions such as tokens, smart cards and biometrics.

The Presentation Server, Platinum environment with Microsoft® Windows Server® 2003 runs on 14 IBM servers. Users, who include traders and portfolio managers, connect over the Web using laptops, wireless BlackBerry devices and PCs.

Loomis Sayles rolled out single sign-on for its password-protected trading and portfolio applications, and has expanded the password management system to its training application, Lotus Notes, the accounting system and a compliance system, with plans for 10 more applications.

Finally, Loomis Sayles implemented the SSL VPN functionality of Presentation Server, Platinum to replace its traditional VPN solution.

Tightening Security to Meet Changing Business Requirements

Citrix’s application security functionality is helping Loomis Sayles reduce the risks to corporate and client information stemming from inconsistent password usage. Mickelson noted, “Without single sign-on, automated password reset and password policy controls, people tend to reuse the same password from one application to another, or to reuse corporate passwords outside the company for, say, their personal e-mail account. If someone gets that password, it could be used to hack into our internal trading application.

“To avoid this, we implemented single sign-on and added two-factor authentication with a biometric solution. Once the person swipes their finger and authenticates into the network, we can use the SmartAccess policy-based controls provided by the Presentation Server, Platinum SSL VPN solution powered by Citrix Access Gateway to determine what resources the employee can access and what they can do within the applications. Citrix helps us guarantee that the people accessing our systems are who they claim to be.”

New and prospective clients regularly ask Loomis Sayles about their best practices around information and access security, and the company demonstrates their capabilities using Citrix Presentation Server, Platinum Edition with its SSL VPN and password management capabilities. The Citrix technology has become part of their operational standards and also part of their Sarbanes-Oxley compliance activities.

Providing Anytime Application Delivery for Enhanced Client Service

Loomis Sayles employees depend on Citrix Presentation Server, Platinum Edition to deliver business applications on demand from any location or device. Mickelson explained, “Clients expect us to be able to respond at any time of the day, and Presentation Server allows us to do that. About half the company is on BlackBerry wireless devices and they can stay constantly connected.”

The SSL VPN solution ensures that application data traversing the network is protected. Employees who are traveling or working from home can connect to business-critical applications quickly and easily via the Web using Citrix.

The Citrix solution also plays an important role in Loomis Sayles’ disaster recovery plan. “We created a failover site at another location and rely on Presentation Server, Platinum to securely deliver our applications to employees in remote locations if they can’t get to the office. Citrix is very well-known in the industry for remote access, especially in times of business interruption.”

Making Citrix Application Delivery the Corporate Standard

Citrix is strategically important to Loomis Sayles. “It’s hard to think of how we could do business without it. Presentation Server, Platinum provides virtualization technologies that allow us to deliver applications easily across our enterprise. The SSL VPN solution provides a high level of security over the Internet. And single sign-on and password policy controls help to secure our trading systems,” Mickelson said. “To be in the asset management game today, you have to have a demonstrable solution for information and access security.”

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