Versace is a global luxury goods company known for its designing, manufacturing, and licensing of apparel, accessories, and other items under Gianni Versace Couture, Versace Jeans Couture, Versus and Versace Signature brands. The Versace Group also now operates several luxury resorts around the world under the Palazzo Versace brand.
The Company is headquartered in Milan, Italy, and is privately held and managed by the Versace family. The Group owns over 200 boutiques and has some 1,000 points of sale in 60 countries worldwide. In 2008 the company registered a turnover of €320 million and employs over 500 people.
As a leader in fashion World, Versace's intellectual property protection is of high priority, along with the confidentiality of official documentation that flows continuously between the Milan headquarters, various offices, retailers and ateliers worldwide.
They required a solution to:
Additionally they also had these specific criteria:
The solution adopted by the Versace Group is Boole Server™ configured into an array with an integrated load balancing and fail over system. To allow access to the protected files, Versace opted for a combination of several features within the solution, including Boole ServerTM desktop client for the headquarters staff in Milan, and Boole ServerTM web client for simple access through an internet browser for all other worldwide locations and partners.The solution deployed enforces military grade encryption of 2048 bit to all files managed by the system, both in storage and in transit between server and users.
In particular, the sharing of files such as sketches, drawings or previews of advertising campaigns requires every image to be stamped with an identification watermark, to help protect the file content from any unauthorised access or transmission and track potential leakages back to their source.
An additional layer of protection is provided by an integrated auditing system allowing real time tracking of user activity on each and every file by the management team.
Using this solution, Versace staff now benefit from a secure system for storing and sharing files in real time, with maximum confidentiality. Versace staff have retained email messaging as their main communication platform, along with their use of the Boole Server™ system, minimising disruption in their activities and workflow.
The integration of the Boole ServerTM Web Client, allowing secure access to confidential data via any browser, has allowed hundreds of Windows and Mac users to securely exchange information between various worldwide locations of the Group, without need for dedicated desktop clients or international staff training overhead.
Geographically distant locations, and their disparate IT infrastructures, have quickly adopted the Boole Server™ system as their confidential communication platform to complement their existing email infrastructure.
The high standards of security incorporated into every part of the system, including watermarking and granular user access policies, are just some of the aspects that have made this a single and complete data protection solution for Versace: secure, reliable, flexible and simple to use.
"We were looking for maximum protection of corporate information and intellectual property that is sent to our international offices. Boole ServerTM allows us to simplify the distribution of confidential material, that had until now been managed through e-mail. We are finally no longer subject to the problem of frequent failed delivery and, most importantly, risks deriving from unauthorized interceptions".
Mr Santo Versace, Chairman, Versace Group
Industry: Fashion & Luxury Brands
Number of users: 2,000
Server OS: Windows Server 2003
Client OS: Windows & MAC
Boole Server Edition: Enterprise including full
fail-over and balancing capabilities
Total Implementation: 2 Days
Secured Communications: Internal &
External
Boole Server™ Versace Case Study - PDF Document