8e6 Technologies' R3000 Gets Top Marks From East Antrim for Blocking Costly P2P File Sharing)
Profile
EAIFHE’s (East Antrim Institute for Further and Higher Education) aim is to help all students obtain the qualifications needed for either career or further and higher education progression or just for hobby and leisure enjoyment. Committed to the concept of lifelong learning, East Antrim is deeply involved in the process of community development and broad social, educational, and economic contribution to the welfare of Northern Ireland. East Antrim needed to ensure that students and staff were not disrupted in their work by malicious viruses, spyware, P2P, and illegal file sharing which disrupt network bandwidth. Having used 8e6 Technologies’ products in the past, East Antrim enthusiastically turned to 8e6 for the best solution to control Internet access per user group.
Objective
According to ZDNet UK, P2P network traffic is taking up more Internet bandwidth than any other protocol, with the vast majority coming from files in excess of 100MB. These P2P downloads usually involve copyright violations with materials such as software and music. These downloads are often saved in storage locations within the workstations, increasing backup times and expense.
East Antrim faced this problem. The institute needed to implement a system that would allow the IT department to control P2P access for both students and teachers. Michael Kane, Informations Systems Manager at East Antrim, recognized the importance of security and P2P control while at the same time acknowledged the necessity for access to specific Web sites. “Certain students need sites that are inappropriate to other students and likewise, teachers need to access sites that are disallowed to students.” What East Antrim needed was granular control over P2P blocking that was easy to set up and manage.
Solution
After seriously considering many products from competitors, East Antrim decided on 8e6’s R3000 Enterprise Filter. The 8e6 R3000 provides a standalone server appliance dedicated to filtering Internet access, ensuring stability, scalability and performance without compromising other server/network functions. Having used 8e6 products at his previous job, Kane was well acquainted with the quality service from 8e6. His favorite aspect of the R3000? The hardware. “Because it’s a hardware appliance, I don’t have to worry about its OS platform becoming compromised. Other packages from competitors are somewhat vulnerable, when the software goes down, so does the Internet. Being an educational establishment, Internet access is highly necessary.”
A key feature of the R3000 is that in the case of a malfunction, Internet access is still available – if you so wish. And even in cases of glitches, the 8e6 Technical Support Staff remains timely in their response time and in finding solutions to problems. “I was very pleased with the high level of service that 8e6 gave me. Any problems were taken care of quickly and efficiently.”
Because the R3000 is a standalone network appliance, there is no need to purchase or support servers or additional operating systems. These hidden TCO costs are often overlooked when deciding upon a filtering solution. And just because the R3000 is a network appliance doesn’t mean that it compromises integration. East Antrim has successfully integrated the R3000 into their Active Directory, enabling it to identify users’ traffic by their windows account name.
In addition, while competitors may also have this hardware feature, 8e6’s R3000 is the only product that incorporates all of the features in one box, which allows for easy set up and maintenance. As part of East Antrim’s purchasing procedure, Kane had to evaluate different products from other companies. His conclusion was that competitors’ products have many steps, which makes them very complicated and time-consuming for busy network administrators. “We find that in many large networks, both in the Fortune 1000 and among the largest school districts, a purpose-built appliance is the best approach for high speed filtering,” said Paul Myer, President and COO of 8e6 Technologies. “The R3000 is designed for easy installation and maintenance.”
Result
Says one representative with East Antrim, the new system has worked very well: “We are very pleased with the R3000 and both performance and customer service has been outstanding.” East Antrim now has secure granular control over student and staff Internet access, ensuring faster and smoother network usability. Kane adds, “If your business requires that you use Web Filtering, and you need something done in a hurry, the R3000 is the best product to do the job.”
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