School Lockdown System With iOS, Windows & Mac Notifications (UK Based)

[ashleylewisms92]

Hi,

 

Our school is looking to replace the existing lockdown system with a new one.

The requirements (from the IT side of things) is the ability to send a message out to all Windows PCs, Macs and iPads.

 

I looked at NetSupport Notify, but it unfortunately doesn't receive iOS notifications - it can only send them out.

All of our pupils have a school-provided iPad which is in use or at least on them almost all the time, so it's vital that this feature is included.

 

We'd like the system/supplier to be UK based for technical support and/or maintenance/repairs/replacement reasons etc.

 

I'm struggling to find such a system here in the UK - the US has tons, so I wonder if anyone could recommend a system that they know of or have used/implemented?

[PotNoodleTech]

Just bought notify yesterday. Not aware of anything that does the same kind of thing in the same price range.

 

Out of interest, are you also looking at physical lockdown security in your refresh? We're such an old spread out school it's hard to figure out an affordable way of doing it!

[Primus]

As a feature request for Notify it would be awesome if it could send push notifications to iOS/Android devices and even to Chrome OS (without using an Android app on Chrome OS).

[PotNoodleTech]

As a feature request for Notify it would be awesome if it could send push notifications to iOS/Android devices and even to Chrome OS (without using an Android app on Chrome OS).

 

Yes it would!

[ashleylewisms92]

Just bought notify yesterday. Not aware of anything that does the same kind of thing in the same price range.

 

Out of interest, are you also looking at physical lockdown security in your refresh? We're such an old spread out school it's hard to figure out an affordable way of doing it!

 

Yeah the physical side of security is being handled by our sites team, they've just passed onto me (the IT guy) the requirement, that is to receive notifications via Windows, Mac and iOS clients (with text message as well if possible).

We're looking at Valcom currently who seem to offer this all-in-one package to meet our needs.

[Mattjones47]

Hi @ashleylewisms92, @Primus

 

At NetSupport we have looked at how to provide a Notification Agent for iOS but the Operating system is fairly limiting, we would have to send a via Apple's Notification service which would then be displayed in the same standard format as other notifications on a device, there would be no simple way to get feedback that the recipient had acknowledge the message or to enforce it's longevity. We are still looking at ways to do this and if Apple provide some more flexible API's or if we come up with something we will look to implement this. With regards to Chrome, this is on the roadmap but we do not currently have a timescale.

 

Matt

[Primus]

Thanks @Mattjones47 - to be honest even if we couldn't see that they'd read the message on iOS it would be a big step forward. The format etc. again isn't really limiting - it's just another way of getting urgent messages out.

[ashleylewisms92]

I agree, this is the main reason we didn't go for NetSupport Notify.

Valcom have an app which does just this, so we're looking at their system currently.