eejit Posted January 20, 2006 Posted January 20, 2006 I've been sent a link to a network monitoring software company called Imperio. Has anyone used their Lan Monitoring software before. It shows remote PC Screens and what any user has done on the network, including which files and folders they have opened and which websites they have accessed. The screenshots on their website don't look that great and I would image that that level of monitoring must put quite an overhead on the network. Any reports here?
Geoff Posted January 20, 2006 Posted January 20, 2006 I recall a representative of the company spamming these very forums not too long ago.
eejit Posted January 20, 2006 Author Posted January 20, 2006 Ok, that explains the only result for 'Imperio' when you use search, couldn't quite figure out what GrumbleDook meant. I presume that all those posts were deleted then. I guess that will have coloured everyone's view of the company here - wonder if they were any good
sysman Posted November 28, 2007 Posted November 28, 2007 Hi I have ran a trial with staff at our school with a single console and 30 workstation. Overall it looks good, we already have syncroneyes for remote monitoring but I have found this has limited capabilities and only connects to a PC after a user has logged on. Impero has more features and I think has better remote control of the workstations. We're looking at it as an anti-bullying type thing as it picks up on typed words so for example if you had 'bum' as an inapproriate word as soon as the last character is typed in ANY application word, excel, etc then Impero takes a screen-shoot, logs who, when, etc and raises an alert on the teachers PC and logs the info to the server software. We are hoping to be a bit more liberal in ICT use for students and open up instant messaging and blog/forums and hopefully this software will facilite safety of these systems. As for bandwidth over-head, I've not noticable had any problems with the network but haven't pulled any before/after comparisons. CPU overhead, again not had any complaints (and staff here would!!!) So un-sure of overhead but not had any issues. Overall at this stage I'm going to the school and recomending that this is the way forward for us. (and hoping that I am right) I don't work for Impero but I can recommend a trial of the software it is impressive although not 100% tested for me. Ta PAUL
WithoutMotive Posted November 28, 2007 Posted November 28, 2007 We have used Impero for some months now and we're really impressed with the application. The monitoring aspects are exactly what is needed and, what is so great about the company is that they take feedback from their customers and incorporate is as best they can into the upgrades and updates. As a piece of monitoring kit and a way of "proving" kids have done something they shouldn't, Impero is highly recommended.
MK-2 Posted November 28, 2007 Posted November 28, 2007 We've used Impero for about 2 or 3 years now and although it does still go through development stages, it's a great piece of software. Can recommend it thoroughly in terms of ease of use, configuration, new feature additions and help. Also, I think there are a company called Imperio, not to be confused with Impero which is what most of us are on about. If anyone wants to know about Impero stuff feel free to PM me, we've used it from near enough its creation
broc Posted November 28, 2007 Posted November 28, 2007 We have used Impero for almost a year now, after a lengthy trial last Nov\Dec. Overall I would say we are happy with the product and would recommend it to anyone looking for something that is easy to use. There may be better technical solutions out there but for me the ease of use was key to our decision to go ahead with it. You can easily delegate the console functions to teaching staff so they can monitor their own classroom and Impero has some useful teaching 'aids'. Impero is still being very actively developed and the developers are very approachable; they are quick to respond to problems and issues and always willing to listen to ideas for product enhancements. The very active development has a downside; the releases & upgrades come thick & fast and sometimes it is difficult to keep up with the release schedule. On occasions too I have felt that we were 'beta' testing the code however the fact that problems do get dealt with very quickly has so far meant we have never suffered a major problem. I would advocate downloading the code & running it for a free trial.
projector1 Posted November 28, 2007 Posted November 28, 2007 we are running the trail version and so far so good, we were testing the video streaming capabilities today, results did not look to good, i will need to check the network side of things before jumping to any conclusions about this functionality. I like the restrict multiple logins featue too.
robk Posted November 28, 2007 Posted November 28, 2007 We have just moved over to it from Ranger, works very well for us. Would recomnend a demo if at all possible.
ChrisP Posted November 29, 2007 Posted November 29, 2007 how does this compare with netsupport school ?
apoth0r Posted January 16, 2008 Posted January 16, 2008 Big thumbs up from me, having worked with it during my time in Nottingham and now able to use it from a teaching point of view increases my opinion of it. Especially exceptional for primary schools as it has a brilliant logging feature and the ability to remotely start software/websites as some of the key features I use. Wake-on-lan/shut down all also a key feature for primary schools, saving lots of money on electricity and time shutting them all down at the end of the day. I very much recommend a look at this software, continually releasing new features and also very approachable guys if you think of any features that you would like. Cheers Steve
JamesC Posted January 16, 2008 Posted January 16, 2008 I've not used it but I would like to point out an extremely cheap option. I have this in 6 IT suites around the school, and of all the products I've tested this offers unbelievable value for money. It is called ABControl or AB Tutor Control. More info including prices an be found here: http://www.abtutorcontrol.co.uk/ For anyone paying top dollar for Ranger or NetOP, I would seriously consider looking into this product.
Dos_Box Posted January 16, 2008 Posted January 16, 2008 I spent half an hour with Impero at BETT suggesting new features for their product. It seems to be a solidly featured product and some of the suggestions I gave them will be implemented in the near future (scheduled log dumps and the ability to get every machine in a room to mimic a chosen machine, for when you need to do a task on an entire suite such as an emergency registry fix etc so you don't have to visit every PC in turn). I liked it. They will be sponsoring or advertising with us soon I think.
Geoff Posted January 17, 2008 Posted January 17, 2008 We've recently gone for ABTutor here too after messing around with inhouse/free options. Works fine.
cjohnsonuk Posted March 5, 2008 Posted March 5, 2008 We could do with setting up a wiki page on this topic as its becoming a bit "hot" as students are put in rooms with full internet access and asked to go to just a limited number of sites or asked not to use the internet at all! If we could set up a feature comparison table that woudl be great. Not used the wiki here yet and I only speak basic wiki mark up... So far Impero seems to give us the best control as it shows a list of open applicaitons even those not with focus so you can see at a glance the windows open in a room. The ability to record and automatically capture screen shots "violations" for sessions is also great when it comes to enforcing acceptable use policies. We need to find a solution that will work in a terminal services environment too. ChrisJ
broc Posted March 5, 2008 Posted March 5, 2008 We have used Impero for more than a year now. It is well regarded by the teaching staff we have granted access to, and well hated by the students who have coined a new verb "to Impero". We had quite a few teething problems when we first started but the support we got and the responsiveness from their developers not only in fixing problems but being receptive to product enhancements was excellent. The latest version seems pretty stable now.
comedydave Posted March 5, 2008 Posted March 5, 2008 They had it at a school I have worked at in the past, and the only fault i found was that if teachers logged onto a laptop via a wire, and thier wireless was also on. It logged them off as it thought they were logged onto 2 machines. Other than that quite robust and powerful. We however use NetSupport here
MK-2 Posted March 5, 2008 Posted March 5, 2008 the ability to get every machine in a room to mimic a chosen machine, for when you need to do a task on an entire suite such as an emergency registry fix etc yeah, that's been an amazingly helpful feature. software installation that requires manual installation and clicking on ok and entering details comes down to a few mins for a room of 30 machines. their new version with policy based blocking/filtering is a major step up from the previous version. Sadly I don't know how BSF will affect them as they are not a major company in terms of RM / ranger status so their software is in danger of dying out in schools where BSF decides to go with ranger or their own set up.
abailey Posted March 5, 2008 Posted March 5, 2008 We have used Impero for the last couple of years and are delighted with it. As previously posted it does sometimes go through 'development phases' but these are always short, infact the developers are top rate. We have had positive dialogue with them several times in terms of new feature requests as well as bug fixes. One of its major strengths is the fact that it offers much more than punative / restrictive functionality - as well as the support tools, like mimicing one PC it also allows for things like quick 'straw polls' in the classroom, or having one student broadcast (EG demonstrate) as skill or a solution to all other workstations in a lab. Hope I'm not gibbering as I'm a little rushed due to running off for a meeting . .
plexer Posted March 5, 2008 Posted March 5, 2008 Is this mainly a monitoring solution like securus and policy central enterprise? Are these solutions a sealed box or just some client/server software that you install? If they are not sealed box solutions like securus is the evidence they collect admissable? Ben
Rozzer Posted March 5, 2008 Posted March 5, 2008 I am using impero here and its been quite a successful product and i am very happy with it. Its also fun to keep a eye on what the kids are doing with it Ross
m2d2 Posted March 5, 2008 Posted March 5, 2008 Is this mainly a monitoring solution like securus and policy central enterprise? Are these solutions a sealed box or just some client/server software that you install? Ben It's a jack of all trades. It does logging and blocking like Securus but it also does demonstration and remote control like NetOP/NetSupport/ABTutor. It's client-server software so you have to provide the server box.
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