BTLS Moving to Netsweeper from Lightspeed

[Joanne]

Had a schools portal message this morning saying that BTLS are moving to Netsweeper NEXT MONTH.

 

In February they had a meeting saying that they were moving to a new solution in autumn.

 

This seems rushed and poorly thought out.

 

Well, on account of me having no choice in the matter, what should I expect?

[Paul_L]

Here we go again, last time Lancsngfl used Netsweeper it lasted just 1 year and was a complete disaster!!

 

Can see lot's of schools heading for the exit over this one

[Joanne]

Great. I don't understand the rush though? Did they not realise when their contract with Lightspeed ran out or something? Have people being having issues? It's been perfect for me. I'm sad that they are ditching it.

[Mark182]

We love lightspeed here and have sent Louise a list of things lightspeed does that netsweeper needs to do such as reports to DSL's, filtering via AD groups ect.

[Joanne]

IT DOESN'T FILTER TO AD GROUPS?!?!?!?!?!??!

 

I sent an e-mail asking if the settings would be transferred or if I'd have to set it up from scratch, because I have filtering for security groups set up and filtering for certain IP addresses (I'm looking at you, LearnPads).

 

They are implementing it next month.... what the actual?!?!

[Paul_L]

Does seem rather convenient, exactly 30 days after the start of the new contract year they announce a change of filtering solution, think schools could leave based on changes in terms of contract without penalty

[Joanne]

Oh man.... I really don't want that hassle either. I wonder if enough of us complain they will change their minds?

[Mark182]

IT DOESN'T FILTER TO AD GROUPS?!?!?!?!?!??!

 

I sent an e-mail asking if the settings would be transferred or if I'd have to set it up from scratch, because I have filtering for security groups set up and filtering for certain IP addresses (I'm looking at you, LearnPads).

 

They are implementing it next month.... what the actual?!?!

 

We have two schools on one rocket (Don't ask) we have it set up staff and students, we also have different security groups above them for different rules.

 

I'll be honest we are very angry at this moment.

[Paul_L]

Netsweeper does do AD Groups, but only from a dedicated OU called Web Filtering Groups

[Mark182]

Plus its slap bang in GCSE time! with all the online exams ect.

[localzuk]

Plus its slap bang in GCSE time! with all the online exams ect.

That is brave, changing filtering during this time!

[Joanne]

Netsweeper does do AD Groups, but only from a dedicated OU called Web Filtering Groups

 

That makes me a little more optimistic.

 

I know of your situation there Mark.... urgh. I don't envy your task!

[Joanne]

Also any lurkers who are on the BTLS network and use their filtering and are happy with LightSpeed, please do email their Education Projects team expressing your concern.

[Mark182]

That is brave, changing filtering during this time!

 

Brave isn't a word I would use.

[Joanne]

Someone in our ELLSA group pointed out that in their February Focus Group they said they were looking at migrating to a new service in Autumn.... don't see why it can't wait until the summer holidays. Especially for such a big change.

 

[caffrey]

Netsweeper does do AD Groups, but only from a dedicated OU called Web Filtering Groups

 

Oh that's why, has to be in the root too - very messy

[1TF0rward]

Our school is part of the Early Adopter Scheme. We have a Webinar to attend so I guess I'll let you know how it goes if anyone is interested?

[Joanne]

Our school is part of the Early Adopter Scheme. We have a Webinar to attend so I guess I'll let you know how it goes if anyone is interested?

 

Yep! Please do update us

[Mark182]

Our school is part of the Early Adopter Scheme. We have a Webinar to attend so I guess I'll let you know how it goes if anyone is interested?

 

We are on Thursday at 14:00, are you on the same one?

[1TF0rward]

We are on Thursday at 14:00, are you on the same one?

Yes that exact one!

[SchoolsBroadband]

We've been moving all of our customers from Lightspeed to Netsweeper and its gone pretty well.

 

Depending on how they have it setup, you'll need to in agent, install a new certificate and replicate filtering policies.

 

Dave

[Netsweeper]

Had a schools portal message this morning saying that BTLS are moving to Netsweeper NEXT MONTH.

 

In February they had a meeting saying that they were moving to a new solution in autumn.

 

This seems rushed and poorly thought out.

 

Well, on account of me having no choice in the matter, what should I expect?

Hi Joanne

 

We have been working very closely with BTLS on the migration project with minimum disruption to the schools a key priority in the project. With that being said, inevitably with a new solution there will be new changes to the way certain aspects are configured and as mentioned earlier in this forum we are going to be running regular webinars over the coming weeks with the intention of demonstrating the new solutions interface, key features including reporting and enhancements of the BTLS filtering platform and I would encourage you to join the webinar. If any schools would like to join the webinar please speak to the BTLS team about arranging a suitable time for you and we will look forward to speaking to you. Our team is highly experienced in migrations and will be on hand and readily available to assist the BTLS team throughout the transition.

[Joanne]

Unfortunately all the webinars are on Thursday afternoons when I don't work, so I'm going to be sent a link to a recorded version.

 

I know someone who went through a Schools Broadband migration from Lightspeed - Netsweeper and a lot of the functionality that they had in Lightspeed was lost. BTLS will be 'migrating' us, but actually moving over all of our settings is something they are not doing. It's just incredibly disappointing that this has been announced mere weeks before the changeover. BTLS would be much better off doing this over the summer holidays.

[Joanne]

I've been told that BTLS will not be migrating block and allow lists, so I have saved mine to text files just incase. Apparently they will be running both Lightspeed and Netsweeper side by side over the changeover, so in theory you could copy your lists across. I have been told the LightSpeed MDM will not be affected by this change, but I am preparing myself for that to be changing in the near future at short notice.

[Patrick]

So gutted we are moving away from LS. I've never had any real issues with it, I look after a few schools with AD Auth set up, so it's gonna get pretty busy for me soon.