Broadband, AV, filtering. Who are you with?

[Blue_Cookeh]

Our contract with the LA is up in the next few months, so I was wondering what you guys did in terms of broadband, antivirus and content filtering? We're looking to move away from them this year.

 

Right now, I'm looking at bonded ADSL (we're fairly rural) from someone like Eclipse Internet, with antivirus from ESET (possibly MS Endpoint Protection and SCCM...) and for filtering... well, I don't know yet, we already have the Forefront TMG filtering subscription but it isn't really tried and tested in schools.

 

I'm looking around and getting quotes at the moment, but need more suppliers to ask around.

[plexer]

We're very rural too and looking at leased lines however if you do look at this route be aware the lead time is around 65 working days.

 

Ben

[CyberNerd]

We use Vaoini for a leased line (fibre), they came out tops for SLA/price. I think they had a content filter option, but we use smoothwall.

 

Coincidentally, I just received a marketing email from them stating that they can now offer 35Mb/s EFM circuits (ethernet first mile)

EFM is much cheaper to run than fibre, we were initially quoted around £4k p/a for 10Mb/s EFM compared to the £8k that our LA charges for 4Mb/s to primary schools!!!! EFM is only available in certain areas, but its worth asking as it will be better then bonded adsl.

 

Vaioni the UK’s largest Ethernet Aggregator and alternative provider to the “BIG 3” of Carrier Ethernet Services launches up to 35mb EFM leased lines through one of its major telco carrier partnerships BT Wholesale. Vaioni, one of the UK’s fastest growing Carrier Ethernet Service Providers are pleased to announce that as of January 2012, corporate and channel customers can be quoted and can purchase EFM services with speeds of up to 35mb from Vaioni with speeds subject to distance from the exchange. Combining this high performance Ethernet over Copper service, it is delivered over Vaioni’s Next Generation Carrier Ethernet platform, making it one of the most attractive and advanced services.

 

Sachin Vaish, Managing Director at Vaioni states "We are one of the first to quote and take orders actively for the up to 35mb Ethernet service and for a limited time we are offering free of charge installs on 3yrs contracts. Working closely with our carriers, we remain proactive to ensure our customers benefit from cutting edge technologies such as this and are proud to work with BT Wholesale to launch this premium service."

 

Paul Beacham, BT Wholesale’s head of fixed Ethernet products said “Already CPs of all shapes and sizes are benefiting from the tremendous bandwidth capacity, service flexibility and service quality our Ethernet services offer. We are always looking to increase the power of communications to help all our customers get the most of next generation technology. That’s why we continue to make a raft of enhancements to our Wholesale Ethernet portfolio - including the introduction of the up to 35mb EFM option - which allow our customers to tailor Ethernet to meet their customers’ needs. We are pleased to support Vaioni’s Ethernet offerings and look forward to working with them and all our wholesale customers on new opportunities.”

 

The Vaioni Carrier Ethernet service delivers a set of standard services which is unmatched and unrivalled in the industry including:

 

Full Carrier Ethernet Delivery

Advanced Layer2 monitoring (OAM)

MEF 14 compliant QoS

Cloud service optimised

Strongest industry SLA

Full national coverage

Guaranteed low latency links

99.96% uptime SLA

Instant pricing

Full online ordering process

We believe the up to 35mb EFM service will disrupt the market and is an ideal addition to our already disruptive portfolio of Ethernet services. To find out more get in touch with Vaioni on 0870 160 0650 or email [email protected]

 

[glennda]

For me Global AXS Leased Line I'm doing what you are talking (not sure where you are in the country - I'm West Sussex) 100mb on 100mb Bearer 12kpa 2.7k install. Smoothwall from smoothwall (although global AXS can resell). I looked and tested various different AV solutions and chose Avast Buisness Suite in the end - tested a standalone machine and put a whole load of virus's atop - only thing that picked up more was Trend Micro but was double the price (and it was 1 more).

 

I am fairly rural as well being a Small Town in the middle of 2 large towns (BT's nearest POP was 11k)

[tom_newton]

I'll just snoop around here a moment in case anyone needs any filtery type questions answered, and put in my usual recommendation for metronet uk's wireless internet, if you are near a place it is available.

[john]

We are on the LA WAN at present but looking at LUNS for future developments, happy Smoothwall filtering users for filtering at the gateway and it does the AV and AS on the e-mail and for Desktop AV we use MS Forefront as its included in our EES Subscription

[GrumbleDook]

We have recently been working with schools in Northamptonshire to help build a toolkit to help other schools decide what they need at the end of the EMBC contract in October 2012. With the new contract being a framework where schools have their own contract (no LA involvement in Northants but other areas may vary) and the fact that schools can pick and choose what they want for connectivity (from 1 of 4 suppliers) and services (from up to 5 suppliers, including mix and match), something was needed ... considering we will have some schools looking for a mirror image of what they have at the moment (very doable from a number of suppliers on the framework) through to an IWF-filtered line only (doing everything else in house or via other contracts / firms) ... and with no advice from DfE any more ... so we now have the following toolkit.

 

Schools Broadband Working Group - A Toolkit | Duston School

 

Hopefully this helps people look at the breakdown of what services they are likely to need and a big thank you goes to all the people who have worked on it so far ...

 

Please remember that it is aimed at a wide audience, from SLT to ICT Co-ordinators to Teachers to Network Managers to IT Technicians to external IT Support Providers to RBCs to service providers ...

[dave.81]

We are very very rural (mid Devon) and have been with EXA-Networks ADSL lines for the last 4/5 years. Brilliant service from them. We are now moving to a leased line with Global AXS who offered the best package/price. 30mb on 100mb bearer, although much more than is quoted above because of location.

 

We use Avast Business for AV, have done for the last 3 years. Hasn't missed a virus yet and doesn't effect the machines during scan. We are going to look at vipre at out next renewal though as heard some good things about it.

 

Filtering, like many, is smoothwall. Although when we get our leased line i have been asked to trial some of the competition to see who can offer the best package for us.

[gshaw]

AV - ESET

Anti-spam - MS Forefront Online Protection for Exchange (cloud based and part of Campus License)

Filtering - currently done on our firewall appliance (Untangle) but hoping to replace with something beefier (Palo Alto, Sonicwall etc)

Internet - JANET