MANILA, Philippines -- The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has upgraded security in its central IT network located in the country.

IOM is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to promoting humane and orderly policies for the movement of persons across borders.

The organization's Manila operations supports IT requirements for the entire organization and likewise consolidates human resources (HR) and accounting processes.

IOM deployed Cisco's Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA), an all-in-one security product along with the equipment maker's Aironet wireless access points.

IOM needed to update security measures to support data transmitted across its network to the head office in Geneva, Switzerland, according to a Cisco statement.

The Manila office serves as the IT hub supporting more than 5,000 workers located in more than a hundred countries.

"We cannot afford viruses and unnecessary traffic to disrupt our operations," said Arvin Malapo, IT network and security specialist at IOM.

IOM installed six Cisco appliances allowing the deployment of up to 60 virtual firewalls enabling management of security down to the departmental level. The network uses four Gigabit Ethernet interfaces and supports up to 25 virtual local area networks or VLANs.

Malapo said IOM's network has been using Cisco technology for the past seven years.