“We needed a solution a solution that, once installed and configured, would allow us almost to forget about it, except for basic management activities".

Filipo Costa, Manager of the Information Systems

Service Continuity and Communications Protection at the Genoa Aquarium with Security Solutions by Arkoon Network Security.

Built in the Porto Antico area for Expo '92, the 500th anniversary of the discovery of the New World, the Genoa Aquarium (Acquario di Genova) has an external structure designed by Renzo Piano with interiors by the American architect Peter Chermayeff. Every year some 1,300,000 people visit the aquarium, which opened to the public on October 15th, 1993.

Covering over 10,000 m2 with 60 tanks, 5 of which stretch over two floors, the Genoa Aquarium has the most extensive range of aquatic ecosystems in Europe and is one of the most popular visitor attractions in Italy.
In 2003 the Genoa Aquarium decided to implement a state-of-the-art information security infrastructure. Going against the fashion of selecting multiple single-function solutions (antivirus, firewall, web filtering, etc), the aquarium chose to deploy an Arkoon all-in-one security appliance.
Genoa Aquarium has continued to use Arkoon solutions, upgrading when necessary to meet evolving demands, and is currently deploying a new clustered version of the Arkoon FAST360 appliance in response to continuing pressures to increase performance and availability while minimizing operational costs.


The Need
Continuity of information systems operations is essential for the Genoa Aquarium, which relies on its web site and associated services for worldwide visibility, offering e-commerce services such as online ticketing and merchandising to visitors and customers. Any interruption would have immediate repercussions on day-to-day business activity.

For Costa Edutainment, the organization which manages the aquarium, the security solution needs to deliver optimum performance without requiring excessive administrative resources – the IT structure consists of just four people with 10 servers and some 130 users to manage.

The Solution
The solution chosen by Costa Edutainment, the organization which manages the aquarium, is installed in the datacenter inside the Genoa Aquarium building.

In the five years since the deployment of the first Arkoon solution, the Genoa Aquarium has seen demands on the information systems infrastructure grow dramatically, both internally as the number of users and the importance of IT in day-to-day operations has expanded, and externally, as the internet and the aquarium’s web site have become tools in marketing the aquarium to the public.

Faced with the need to adapt the security infrastructure to meet these new demands, Genoa Aquarium decided to stay with Arkoon, adopting a more powerful appliance –A2100 UTM FAST360 appliance – to protect the corporate network and its 130 internal users. Using two appliances in an active-passive or active-active configuration along with server redundancy and dual ISP connectivity ensures continuity of operations.

Why Arkoon
“We needed a solution that, once installed and configured, would allow us almost to forget about it, except for basic management activities”, explains Filippo Costa, Manager of the Information Systems at the Genoa Aquarium. “We selected the Arkoon technology because it offered all the security features we needed (firewall, content filtering, email protection) in a single appliance, including bandwidth management features which we use to prioritize traffic to our e-commerce website. The easy and intuitive interface means that, with minimal training, our staff can edit configurations, manage the system and check the logs”.

In addition to offering the right technology for the Genoa Aquarium’s requirements, Arkoon was selected thanks to the level of support offered by the reseller, SoftJam SpA. “We have been working with Genoa Aquarium since 2000” explains Marco Rampini, Key Account Manager at SoftJam SpA. “When the requirement for a comprehensive, robust security solution arose, we suggested the Arkoon technology as it featured several key differentiators, including support for backup network connectivity to provide continuous service.”

The Partner
SoftJam ( is a long-standing partner of Arkoon in Italy, providing added value to enterprise technology through comprehensive customer support offerings during the installation,
sizing and customization of the solution.

SoftJam has been offering Arkoon products in Italy since 2003, and today it can claim a customer base throughout Italy and abroad that comprises more than 60 companies with 10 to hundreds employees. SoftJam was established in Genoa in 1996 and has a subsidiary office in Milan. SoftJam is the reference technology partner for enterprises that require high added value services to build, manage, support and maintain quality information systems.