Lightspeed systems says Schools Broadband is telling lies....

[Wubbalubbadub]

Did anyone else get the following email today? Thoughts?

 

"We are reaching out to you because you are currently receiving filtering services through Talk Straight/Schools Broadband as a service provider partner of Lightspeed Systems. It is our general policy to allow our service provider partners to be the primary contact with the customer, however, in this case we can no longer remain silent. We have heard that Talk Straight/Schools Broadband representatives have made claims that Lightspeed Systems' software cannot scale to meet the needs of schools. This is simply not true. Our software protects over 25 Million children worldwide in tens of thousands of schools. We have single instances of our software that support a thousand schools and 40 Gig of sustained bandwidth. We are constantly adapting our technology to keep pace with the ongoing changes in the internet. Any scalability issues that might exist are a result of Talk Straight/Schools Broadband not providing you with any of the software updates we have provided in the last 2 and a half years.

 

Your system is currently running on an end of life and end of support version of our software. This is 2.10.3 of the Rocket software which was released September 17th, 2015. The last general release of version 2 of our software was 2.10.5 released on March 24th, 2016.

 

You are missing out on a significant amount of performance, security and feature enhancements available to our customers. Talk Straight/Schools Broadband has not provided you with regular updates to our software that are necessary to not only provide a stable high performing environment but to also keep pace with the rapid changes in the use and technology of the internet today.

 

We have spent the last year attempting to work with the Talk Straight/Schools Broadband team to update to current release version of our software. Since 2.10.5 was released the version 3 line of our software has had thousands of enhancements for performance, security, and features. Our most current release is version 3.5 released on January 19th, 2018 and some examples of feature enhancements include; support for enhanced YouTube browsing with Smart Play, blocking technology for filter bypass tools, advanced reporting, support for new identity sources such as G Suite and Office 365, and off-site filtering support for the latest devices. During this past year we have had numerous phone calls, several on site visits including personnel from the US flying to the UK to attend, and provided equipment free of charge to Talk Straight/Schools Broadband to test and validate the update. We have regularly had update windows scheduled and then cancelled at the last minute with little explanation.

 

We apologise that this puts you in a difficult situation but we want to ensure you are getting the best possible experience with our software.

 

If you would like to discuss moving your filtering needs directly under your control we have a number of options to accomplish this quickly and easily, including options that do not require any on site hardware.

 

Rob Chambers

VP of Product Management

[email protected]

 

 

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[TD]This email was sent by: Lightspeed Systems Inc.

2500 Bee Cave, Building 1, Suite 350 Austin, TX, 78746, United States[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

"

 

Edited February 1, 2018 by Wubbalubbadub
Formatting

[tj2419]

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/internet-related-filtering-firewall/184185-schools-broadband-anyone-else-having-internet-issues-today-13.html#post1647772

[Wubbalubbadub]

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/internet-related-filtering-firewall/184185-schools-broadband-anyone-else-having-internet-issues-today-13.html#post1647772

 

I saw that someone had posted it onto an existing thread.. felt it needed its own thread..

[Wubbalubbadub]

Just so i'm being transparent, Schools broadband have said:

 

"you seriously couldn't write it could you?

 

We'll respond in due course. As you can imagine we are not happy with the email that's just gone out and are considering our options as this has come out of the blue.

 

We will be 100% supporting our existing Lightspeed and Netsweeper products as usual.

 

I'll put on an official response in a new thread later.

 

Thanks

 

Dave"

[nathan]

SB have also sent out an email to everyone too.

[Nightshade2k]

if they have i didnt recieve it from SB

[nathan]

Factually incorrect communication from Lightspeed Systems

You may have seen today that LIghtspeed Systems have written directly to all Schools Broadband schools. Their email claims that the basis on which we have decided to implement the new Netsweeper platform is incorrect.

 

We are talking with our lawyers regarding exactly how we respond to their email, both to LIghtspeed Systems and to our customers. In the mean time, we want to ensure you as our partners, know the following:-

• We have spent 2 years reviewing the best platform for our customers and partners

• We have worked very closely with both Lightspeed Systems and Netsweeper during that period

• Our decision is based on what is best for our customers both now and in the future

• Our decision was based on extensive testing in both a lab and live environment, working with both providers

• Some of the detail in Lightspeed System's email is factually incorrect

• We will be responding to our customers in the coming days, once we have taken the appropriate advice

If you need anything else from us, please contact Bob Yorke, David Tindall, Julia Williams or your local Account Manager, and we will be happy to help you as best we can. Thank you.

The Directors

Schools Broadband

[Griff]

How can they defend not updating the software? no excuses

[Nightshade2k]

Well the thing is Griff we dont know what the exact reasons are, and as customers now we dont know what to believe? but i have a feeling this is going to get uglier, considering the disruption schools have had with SB and the Netsweeper change and the damage to Lightspeeds repuation here and elsewhere to. SB do need to work on their support but i met Dave at BETT and he seemed genuine about wanting to solve the issue in support and with the migrations. Nope going to have to watch and wait.

[synaesthesia]

Trying to be objective about it, if those updates caused issues during testing then it'd be folly to push them out. I believe I've heard SB mention something along those lines although it may have been anecdotal.

 

We no longer have any real concern with either as we've moving away having lost confidence and it would also be very difficult to "pick a side" based on what's been said. It is however extremely odd for a company to email out of the blue like that. I don't know how truthful it is, but it's certainly unprofessional and could amount to slander if there are inaccuracies.

[SchoolsBroadband]

Hello everyone,

 

a lot of you know me personally. You've met me, other directors, our account managers and support engineers on multiple occasions. I can categorically say to you all we have never lied and have been frank, open and honest with all of you whether we have good or bad news as I fundamentally believe that doing so is the best long term solution to relationships with our partners and customers.

 

I'm bitterly disappointed Lightspeed have sent the email without even consulting us. I've already received a lot of supportive emails and calls from partners and customers as well as seeing many emails saying how disgusted they are that Lightspeed have contacted them and their customers in that manner.

 

I am not going to comment further on any points raised within the email except we do not agree with them and there are very fundamental reasons as to why some of the things they've asked us to do are simply not feasible.

 

I do not want to get into a tit for tat back and forth blame game either as that will help nobody.

 

We will respond to all of our customers shortly (we have already gone out to partners as per the above). Giving our customers a stable, reliable and cost effective broadband, security and filtering solution is our number one priority and will continue to be so.

 

If anyone wants a chat then feel free to give me a call as many of you have my number already.

 

Thanks

 

Dave

[Primus]

It's odd - Fortinet said similar things less publicly a while ago about issues SB customers were having that Fortinet said an update fixed but SB weren't wanting to deploy.

 

Then we had Microsoft updates crippling the network.

 

Now we have a massive international company like Lightspeed feeling they have to set the record straight and once again they're blaming SB not allowing updates to occur.

 

What's also odd is how certain people seem so willing to believe SB but disbelieve Lightspeed.

[synaesthesia]

My personal inclination is to agree with your sentiment @Primus, however their (LS) action of emailing end users directly saying what they have does not bear any resemblance of professionalism, certainly from the point of view of a huge company, so that alone is likely to put further doubts in people's minds.

[Primus]

@synaesthesia I know what you mean but if you see it from Lightspeed's POV - people are their customers, albeit through a reseller and that reseller is bad mouthing their product quite publicly.

 

Lightspeed are huge in this space, particularly in the US so they're not going to be happy about a UK schools ISP doing this.

[synaesthesia]

Trouble is, it depends who's telling the porkies and none of us are going to know short of hearing it in court. Just because a company is large, doesn't mean they're not telling porkies (Apple, Volkswagen) or just acting like morons.

[CyBeRkId2002]

Not sure who is to blame in this instance... nor do I expect we will ever truly find out.

 

One thing that is important is that as customers we have a single contract with SchoolsBroadband, no-one else. They are the ones we have paid for a promised service that is claimed to provide stable internet with 99.x% uptime etc. We pay them and not lightspeed. If the product they have selected is not performing they should have SLA's and terms and conditions in place to ensure they can switch to a more suitable platform and not having it impact THEIR customers. This has dragged on for far too long and it is hard to argue that, whether it is the connection or the filtering, SchoolsBroadband are to be held accountable. I can't see how it can be argued any other way.

 

I will say I for one am glad our contract expires in the near future and am going to be looking into alternate providers in the coming months. The ongoing instability with the platform is one of many issues (customer service being one of the other key issues) that have left us with no choice but to rule them out as being a serious proposition as a provider going forward. Shame really.

[Wubbalubbadub]

My personal inclination is to agree with your sentiment @Primus, however their (LS) action of emailing end users directly saying what they have does not bear any resemblance of professionalism, certainly from the point of view of a huge company, so that alone is likely to put further doubts in people's minds.

No dig.. but if it was your product that had you spent potentially millions on producing and selling.. and a supplier of that product was blaming you.. How would you approach it?

 

Personally i think Lightspeeds email seemed to come from an angle of "we have no other choice" if they are right in there email, it sounds as though Schools Broadband have just been ignoring them and investing in NetSweeper.. I see no reason why a huge organisation like Lightspeed Systems would risk this PR otherwise?

[synaesthesia]

Well we'll have to wait and see. I've seen digs from one company to the other more than once and the Netsweeper thing seemed to be a bit "under wraps" until recently but regardless, it could have been Apple, Google or Facebook and it wouldn't have made it any less professional. There's likely to be slander involved if this goes to court, however we're all basing this on conjuncture, opinion and very few facts of our own.

 

Personally I'd like to see a rep from each company given one of Ol' Muskys' flamethrowers and put in a room to see what happens. (tongue in cheek in case anyone feels offended!)

[Griff]

If anyones interested we got our internet through Exponential-e they are based in London probably more expensive than most. We are running an on site Rocket on guess what version 3 (about to update to 3.5.1) and we have 100mb dedicated smart line coming into an onsite firewall. This has been in since around March 2017 and its been outstanding our only downtime has been due to power cuts other than that its always working. We have had 1 issue with Rocket box not letting people authenticate one morning but quick reboot on the device sorted it out.

[synaesthesia]

We quite liked Lightspeed as it was. Exponential-E though just came to us and lied to our faces about owning 70% of the internet infrastructure in this country. Marketing=smells of bovine excrement

[Griff]

We quite liked Lightspeed as it was. Exponential-E though just came to us and lied to our faces about owning 70% of the internet infrastructure in this country. Marketing=smells of bovine excrement

 

Just giving an alternative mate Exponential-e actually deliver on what they promise hence why I recommended them

[synaesthesia]

Aye, always good to look for those. We've got the well recommended Wave9 supplying us from Easter

Don't think there's a huge amount to go wrong with Lightspeed boxes when they're on site and doing nothing other than your own site's business rather than worrying about large clusters, multiple sites and another man in the middle to worry about it.

[Primus]

The large US school districts seem to do ok with their Lightspeed filtering for huge numbers of schools so it can work in the right environment.

[synaesthesia]

I spoke to a couple when SB first made the jump from the base Fortinet setup to Lightspeed and they generally had their rockets on site. It took a lot to get SB to convince us that the hosted one was the way to go.

[Tefters]

With hosted platforms you simply relinquish full control... for something like web filtering I would never do it.

You look at majority of hosted platforms and they are versions behind current.

 

To also throw it out there, Expo-E are fantastic for Internet/SIP. 7 year customer and can’t say a bad word about them! Yes their sales/marketing is waffle but aren’t they all.

Only moving over because Exa Dark Fibre is round the corner and they have gone the extra mile (literally pulled nearly a mile ) to get it to us. 500/500 for half the cost I used to pay for 100/100, DER!

Edited February 2, 2018 by Tefters