News regarding ICT4C/YHGfL?

[round2it]

Yes fusion.

 

It does what we need nice and simple.

[XiJ]

I would be interested to see what happens in terms of the Sophos licensing. We bought this a while ago but it was meant to be a 5 year license. If they stop the update location a lot of people will not receive new virus signatures.

If anyone gets to find out any information on this can you please pass this on. If i find out anything i will post it on here!

 

One of my techs spoke to Sophos direct today and they said all licenses will be valid for the subscription period they signed up for.

 

Sophos will be writing to all schools - there will be some reconfiguration of the SEC required.

 

We’ve e-mailed the contact for confirmation of that.

[davethetekkie]

What a mess. Thankfully my primary moved their broadband service to RM at Easter... Hopefully the info regarding Sophos licensing will be forthcoming sooner rather than later!

[bigdannyb79]

Sophos looks like it should be ok - from sophos

 

In reference to the news that ICT4Collaboration have ceased to trade with immediate effect, Sophos would like to reassure you that your Sophos products purchased via ICT4Collaboration will continue to be supported and the warranties for software and hardware honored as long as you are compliant with the terms and conditions of our end user license agreement at https://www.sophos.com/en-us/legal/sophos-end-user-license-agreement.aspx.

 

Sophos is continuing to work with BDO, the administers to ICt4Collaboration, and the local authorities so that there will not be any disruption to your service with Sophos. We will update you shortly if any changes to your console will need to be made. Please feel free to contact us directly at [email protected] in case you have any questions or concerns.

 

I hope this reassures you that the service will continue.

[SchoolsBroadband]

So all that is left to buy from the administrators it would seem is the Sophos licences. Deals were done before ICT4C went bust for contracts to carry on with the incumbents carriers although they are pushing schools to re-sign with them or continuation of service.

 

For any school affected we are still offering FOC service until March 31st AND free expedite install on ADSL or FTTC as a temporary measure (worth about £250) so we can get you up and running in a couple of days. So far we've had over 20 schools sign up with us and I expect quite a few more as they don't seem to like the options given by the incumbents or the pressure they've been put under.

 

If you need an alternative quote please do send me a PM.

 

Thanks

 

Dave

[DODICT]

Anybody who's signed up with alternative provided managed to get some agreement with Vapour for an interim agreement until a new provider can activate services ? PM me if appropriate. THanks.

[Wave9_Lee]

Hi there, I don't know if this has been achieved, but as others have mentioned, it's possible to get an alternative FttC/ADSL supply in very quickly with expedited delivery. In some areas even 4G would be suitable if schools feel they've not had chance to review the market.

 

Along with others we're offering both temporary and long-term package options for affected schools with deferred payment. If I hear of any interim arrangements I will post here.

[lukehemingway]

I would contact Sophos mate, I did just that and they upgraded us to sophos endpoint cloud for free for the next 4 years or so. No more updates from an onsite or remote servers. Updates directly from sophos cloud which you can manage.

[IrritableTech]

I would contact Sophos mate, I did just that and they upgraded us to sophos endpoint cloud for free for the next 4 years or so. No more updates from an onsite or remote servers. Updates directly from sophos cloud which you can manage.

You've done well. I just rang and got given our account managers details who told me that there are a few legal things to iron out but ultimately our licences will still stand. Sophos hope that someone picking up some of the services from ICT4C will end up hosting a update server and we'll be able to update from there. No mention of credentials to get updates straight from sophos, or a switch to cloud.

 

They did say they had sent out an email yesterday to schools (anyone get one?) and they would continue to send emails when there was something to report. They also said they would start updating schools via various forums because they know it's a hot topic.

[hallb15]

I've received the email below twice now - I was wondering if anyone has taken them up on their offer to move over to their cloud based Central? I like the idea, but was wondering what the overheads were like in terms of traffic generated by all 166 devices communicating with Sophos servers at the same time.

 

An important note to schools that have purchased their Sophos Endpoint antivirus software from ICT4C. The existing ICT4C infrastructure through which you’ve been updating your software will close shortly, so to continue to benefit from this world-class security solution and keep your software up to date, Sophos will need to issue new licenses. We want to make sure schools are on the latest console with the correct login details as soon as possible.

Therefore, we require schools to contact [email protected] with the following information:

Number of desktops/laptops

Number of servers (physical or virtual)

Please also send confirmation if you would like to remain on-premises (locally hosted) or Central (cloud hosted). For advice on how to decide on the best option for your school, visit the Sophos community page. Please note that there will be no cost to schools for either option for the current license term, as long as you are compliant with our EULA.

 

You also have the option of adding our award-winning ransomware detection solution into your Sophos security. Used by over 2,500 schools across the UK, our ransomware protection can be easily activated for schools in your on-premises or Central antivirus product. There is a cost per-license to do so for this feature. However, the local authorities across Yorkshire have negotiated a reduced price to add this feature into the existing school licenses. If you would like pricing details, please contact Sophos.

[Archipelego1]

We've taken them up on the offer. Still waiting for a migration date though. Sophos advised us they're working through the list of schools have have requested this and will let us know when it is our turn.

[IrritableTech]

I've received the email below twice now - I was wondering if anyone has taken them up on their offer to move over to their cloud based Central? I like the idea, but was wondering what the overheads were like in terms of traffic generated by all 166 devices communicating with Sophos servers at the same time.

 

Interesting - I’ve heard nothing, so thanks for this. We’ve nearly 500 devices running sophos so I’m pretty sure I’ll be hosting locally.

[jonathan.lees]

We migrated about a month back to central and have 400 devices aboard. Haven't noticed any bandwidth changes, although I've not been actively monitoring it tbh as updates happen without notification.

[hallb15]

Interesting - I’ve heard nothing, so thanks for this. We’ve nearly 500 devices running sophos so I’m pretty sure I’ll be hosting locally.

I'd get in touch with them via the [email protected] address. They replied pretty quickly with an email showing our licenses schedule and shows the expiry date in 2021 as expected. I also received a phone call to discuss InterceptX but the cost is out of our budget at the moment.

[Archipelego1]

Dont let bandwidth issues sway your decisions. You can have a caching server installed locally, which will pull the updates down and then push to the clients. The cloud is more for management ... and devices such as laptops that never come into school.

[enbiggen]

Just a quick heads up - I decided to stay onsite (as I was worried about renewal costs after our current contract expires) and I got *exactly* the number of licences as the number of PCs/laptops/servers I specified. This is obviously not what I had with ICT4C, where I was able to add and remove machines as required without worrying that I'd need to pay extra for additional machines. I'm going to query this, but first I'm cleaning up my console to remove duplicates and old/renamed devices in my console.

[hallb15]

That's a very good point. No mention has been made of renewal costs after the current license has expired. For us, this isn't until 2021 but we still need to factor this in when requesting budgets of course.

I also got exactly the number of licenses as I had specified in the initial email to Sophos.

[sted]

Dont let bandwidth issues sway your decisions. You can have a caching server installed locally, which will pull the updates down and then push to the clients. The cloud is more for management ... and devices such as laptops that never come into school.

 

it does seem to take forever to populate a caching server and a percentage bar or similar wouldnt go amiss mines been saying downloading for about 45 mins- 1 hour

[enbiggen]

Now that I'm sitting down and going through the process - I've realised that the product is for 500-999 users - d'oh - so I'm not expecting to see any issues (crosses fingers).I am by nature a worrywart :-)

[hallb15]

Has everyone else received the email about a Webinar Sophos are hosting on Tue 13th Feb, specifically aimed at ICT4C customers?

I emailed them to say it was the half term holiday in Leeds schools and they replied to suggest that a copy of the webinar can be emailed to those who register before hand.

Join the Webinar:

ICT4C in administration and what happens next

 

 

13th February at 11am GMT

 

 

Register Now

 

 

 

 

Sophos is hosting a webinar for all schools impacted by ICT4C going into administration. This webex is to help schools decide if they would like to continue to use Sophos AV hosted on premise, or if they would like to take advantage of the benefits of Sophos Central , our cloud managed AV.

During the webinar we will discuss:

• How to migrate to our cloud managed platform from your existing on-premise Sophos AV

• The benefits of moving to the Sophos Central platform

• Our new product, Sophos Intercept X, which is designed to defeat ransomware

 

Here's the link to register

https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/6329762385726139137

[IrritableTech]

Has everyone else received the email about a Webinar Sophos are hosting on Tue 13th Feb, specifically aimed at ICT4C customers?

I emailed them to say it was the half term holiday in Leeds schools and they replied to suggest that a copy of the webinar can be emailed to those who register before hand.

Here's the link to register

https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/6329762385726139137

 

Thanks very much for this - although I have rung and emailed them I'm hearing absolutely nothing.

[XiJ]

Thanks for the heads up. Registered.

[DODICT]

Anyone else received contact from vapour to collect an ICT4C router - just thinking is it theirs to collect ?

[r0cketbev]

Yeah one of my schools have.

[DODICT]

Yeah one of my schools have.

 

What are your thoughts - is it theirs to claim ? I've not heard from the administrators but at the same time I'm not sure what claim Vapour have to it as a subcontractor of ICT4C ?