NETWORK PROFILE
Wireless and wired access with 7,440 ports across six locations; 450 faculty and staff, more than 4,000 students grades K through 12.
CHALLENGES
When Trussville implemented a one-to-one laptop initiative for middle and high school students, which encouraged students to bring their own computers to school, the IT staff faced a challenge: faculty and staff computers would share the same space as guest devices and as many as 2,300 student devices. Trussville needed to ensure that its production network was secured from unauthorized access as the school system provided secured wireless access for students. Federal law, particularly the Child Internet Protection Act (CIPA), requires that children are protected from inappropriate images and content on the Internet. “Compliance with CIPA presents all schools with the challenge of balancing freedom and control; this challenge is compounded when student-owned devices are used on campus,” notes Shawn Nutting, director of Technology and Facilities at Trussville City Schools. “In response, we implemented a Network Access Control (NAC) solution that we believed would enable the appropriate level of access and protect Trussville IT assets and our students.”
- Ensure comprehensive network security for the wired and wireless networks
- Automate network security to limit “hands-on” IT staff involvement while ensuring that only authorized users could access the network
- Provide flexibility to assign rules based on individual users/devices
- Ensure compliance with CIPA and other mandates
SOLUTION
Network Sentry Solution, with Network Sentry Foundation, Access Manager and Endpoint Compliance
“We are focused on supporting students and teachers with technology, and with Network Sentry we are able deliver open, yet controlled and secure, access to our students as we protect the Trussville network and improve the experience for our users. And, we’ve done all this using fewer scarce IT staff resources. Bradford and Network Sentry have been a great success for us.”
- Shawn Nutting, Director of Technology and Facilities
RESULTS
Nutting concludes that the mission of the Trussville IT team is to build a strong, reliable network that supports students and teachers in the classroom, and he credits Bradford with supporting this mission. “We are focused on supporting students and teachers with technology,” he notes, “and with Network Sentry we are able deliver open, yet controlled and secure, access to our students as we protect the Trussville network and improve the experience for our users. And, we’ve done all this using fewer scarce IT staff resources. Bradford and Network Sentry have been a great success for us.”
- Fully automated solution ensured rapid deployment—Network Sentry was up and running in less than two weeks—and required limited ongoing support and maintenance from IT staff
- Minimized the time and effort required to identify users and devices and ensure compliance; reduced help-desk contacts by 30 percent
- Provided flexibility to create device profiles and apply access rules based on those profiles
- Enabled IT staff to reimage on the fly without changing switch or network configurations manually