San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) December 07, 2011
OpenDNS, the world’s largest and fastest-growing provider of Internet security and DNS services that deliver a safer, faster and more intelligent Internet experience to everyone, today announced Monadnock Regional School District is using cloud-based OpenDNS Enterprise to meet CIPA compliance and ensure delivery of eRate funds. Monadnock Regional School District, located in New Hampshire, chose OpenDNS Enterprise to protect its nearly 2,000 students and faculty members and achieve its goal of becoming the best, most technologically advanced, district in New Hampshire.
Prior to deploying OpenDNS Enterprise, Monadnock Regional School District was using Edgewaves content filtering device, but Neal Richardson, director of technology for the district, said the solution was marginally effective. The district was also forced to pay additional fees to accommodate different privileges and functionality for various grade levels. Richardson wanted to implement a solution that would not only ensure CIPA compliance, but also help him more easily achieve the districts vision for better leveraging technology for the advancement of their students by making Internet availability more consistent. However, he couldnt risk using an ineffective system of Web filtering devices and compromising eRate funding that schools are given for meeting CIPA compliance.
Were committed to creating a learning environment that gives our kids the best opportunity to use new technologies to get ahead of the curve, said Richardson. But those technologies can be expensive, so we are heavily reliant on the eRate funding that subsidizes Internet costs. I couldnt jeopardize our funding by using a solution for content filtering that wasnt 100 percent effective across the board at all of our schools.
In addition to the task of blocking unsavory content on school computers, Monadnock Regional School Districts IT Team was searching for an additional layer of protection against the ever-increasing threat of malware and botnets. Richardson and his team selected OpenDNS Enterprise because its the only solution that offers Web filtering at the DNS layer, ensuring universal protection across all network-connected devices, and embedded protection against malware and botnets that stops malware before it can infect a network.
Not only does OpenDNS Enterprise ensure we have reliable and comprehensive Web filtering, the included malware protection now acts as our first layer of defense against Internet threats, said Richardson. The level of granularity thats offered by the cloud-based dashboard also allows me to predict if a problem is unique to a particular school or if its district-wide, so troubleshooting is much easier, even when Im remote.
OpenDNS Enterprises unique inbound and outbound malware protection technology is the only DNS-level security solution that not only prevents malware from happening, but cuts off communication between an infected machine and its online host, rending the malware ineffective.
Richardson added: The education field hasnt always been the best at IT security, and that is partially because theres not much left in the budget for malware protection after you purchase the essentials like content filtering. Id absolutely recommend OpenDNS Enterprise because it has comprehensive malware protection built into a content filtering solution, allowing us to not just improve security, but to be on the cutting edge.
About OpenDNS
OpenDNS is the world’s leading provider of Internet security and DNS services, enabling the world to connect to the Internet with confidence on any device, anywhere, any time. OpenDNS provides millions of businesses, schools and households with a safer, faster and more intelligent Internet experience by protecting them from malicious Web threats and providing them control over how users navigate the Internet, while dramatically increasing the network’s overall performance and reliability. For more information about OpenDNS, please visit: http://www.opendns.com.
About Monadnock Regional District
The Monadnock Regional School District is located in New Hampshire. The District is comprised of seven schools, serving nearly 2,000 students and several hundred faculty members. The Monadnock Regional School District is driven by the goal of becoming the best district in the state of New Hampshire and relies on cutting-edge technology in order to help students achieve success.
###
