Japan's NTT Communications Corporation started a new service this week for users of NTT Com's Arcstar Global IP-VPN services to use its advanced security management system, Arcstar Global Secure Gateway Service, in Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai.

Customers with global networks face major risks because they cannot detect where a virus or threat of attack originates if each location accesses the Internet independently. The Arcstar Global Secure Gateway Service solves this problem by placing the Internet gateway in NTT Com data centers. Security Operations Centers (SOC) located in Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai and Tokyo monitor and control the gateway on a 24/7 basis for highly reliable security management.

Based on SLAs (service level agreements), NTT Com can rapidly change security policy and respond to security threats.

The Arcstar Global Secure Gateway Service allows customers to easily maintain a consistent global security policy, while doing away with the need to make expensive capital investments or maintain assets overseas.

In addition, customers can combine a wide variety of security control methods, including firewalls, virus scan gateways, and IDS/IPS (intrusion detection systems/intrusion prevention systems).

Starting with the Arcstar Global Secure Gateway Service, NTT Com plans to launch a variety of global managed network and IT services that provide total support for customers' overseas IT management. NTT Com plans to expand coverage of the Arcstar Global Secure Gateway Service to the U.S., Europe, and other locations in the future.