Issue link: http://osercommunicationsgroup.uberflip.com/i/255556
E d Te c h S h o w D a i l y Fri d a y, Fe b ru a r y 7 , 2 0 1 4 2 6 TACKLE MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT WITH APPDIGIO Mobile devices are everywhere we look these days. They have transformed the way we consume, distribute and manage content, by increasing accessibility through smart devices and mobile appli- cations. This mobile device revolution can be seen in the enterprise, SMB and increasingly, in our educational institu- tions. At the surface, this all sounds great, but at the root of it comes new challenges as they relate to managing this new ecosystem. As more and more software compa- nies and manufacturers leap into the mobile device and application manage- ment space, IT administrators are often times overwhelmed with which solution will be the best fit for their organization. Educational institutions face an even bigger challenge as it relates to coupling both the technical aspects of MDM and MAM with the curriculum side of the equation. Jim Crocco, President of Appdigio Inc., recently said, "After countless meetings with some of our key accounts, we realized that we needed to develop a solution that tackles the mobile device management issue at all levels in our schools. By get- ting IT, administration, instructional technology and just as important, teach- ers and end users involved, we found that the real issue was tying the entire organi- zation together. This meant creating functionality that addressed the technical aspects of what IT managers need with the spend and app approval processes that administrators, curriculum and end users desired." A p p d i g i o doesn't stop there, however. Their custom App Store and Addigio suite also allows institutions to raise money directly on their own app store by selling ad space and featured ad placements on their sites. This helps drive program dol- lars for additional technology or other programs they deem necessary as a built in feature right within Appdigio. Visit booth 817 for more information, or go to www.appdigio.com, call 972-695-8600 x5018 or email info@appdigio.com. BRING YOUR NETWORK TO LIFE WITH CPSI By Gay Sherman, Project Manager, CPSI, Ltd. I remember the first time I saw dead peo- ple in my district's e-mail directory. As network manager at a Florida school dis- trict, it was my job to keep this stuff up to date and I was horrified. Our department seemed to be the last to know about a staffing change. Yes, we had a process to automate our network accounts. It was developed in-house. Undocumented. That guy left. Nobody knew what he did. The network directory fell apart like a cheap suit. We fought the good fight; merged NetWare, NT and AppleShare into Active Directory. Everybody wanted to be part of the new network, mostly because I bribed schools with free file servers and training. All of a sudden we had to maintain a directory and home directories for over 20,000 employees and 150,000 students in 155 schools. AD automation was in its infancy, and I could not find any AD management vendor who specialized in K–12 except CPSI, started in 1989. They came in and gave us their personal attention, rebuilt AD and automated it. If I had a problem, I called or e-mailed them and it was fixed, or I was told why it couldn't be fixed. I didn't have to submit a ticket or talk to the company voicemail. Active directory thrived with accounts in the right place. Continued on Page 41 SECURING BYOD FOR LOVEJOY ISD IN ALLEN, TEXAS The number one priority of Lovejoy Independent School District's School Board continues to be technology. A growing dis- trict with 4,000 students and 500 employees (plus a large number of involved parent and community volunteers), Lovejoy ISD is spread over eight facilities that are used not only for school-related events, but also for community activities. "We are fortunate to have support at both the board and community level for the use of technology to promote teaching and learning," said Tina Phillips, Director of Technology. "We are a dual platform district, utilizing both Mac and PC devices to offer our students and staff the best tools for their particular tasks." Using personal devices (aka BYOD) in the district has been introduced over time. Now, high school students, as well as those in the eighth grade – and of course, staff members – routinely use their devices in the classroom. The dis- trict offers a guest network that is pass- word protected for grades K-8, but open for 9-12 and administrative facilities. "Problems presented with protect- ing and distributing the wireless pass- word, as well identifying who and what was accessing our wireless network led us to exploring options for a BYOD security solution," Phillips said. "We were looking for the specifics of what we wanted the product to do, at a price point we could afford. Self-registra- tion, the ability to cus- tomize our policies, control and isolation of devices, the power to identify what devices were on our net- work and the ability to provide reports were very important to us." Lovejoy ISD chose Safe•Connect as the product that could best meet their needs. Additional features offered with the Safe•Connect solution, such as blocking peer-to-peer and other network intrusions, anti-virus and patch management and the ability to deliver customized and individ- ual policies, helped with their decision to choose that product for Lovejoy ISD. "Safe•Connect opens possibilities for us to better satisfy future needs of our younger students, while better tracking network resource usage," explained Phillips. "With the policies available to us through Safe•Connect, we are able to offer more freedom to our students, staff, and community, while maintaining network control. We feel this will be a very positive move for technology in our district!" Other components available from Impulse Point can be used in conjunction with Safe•Connect to provide real-time correlation of identity-to-device data to other security solutions, such as content filters, guest access management, mobile device management, secure WPA2 access and non-browser device enrollment. Impulse Point and Safe•Connect can help provide the balance of access and security that's right for K-12 districts. For more information about our BYOD security solutions, visit Impulse at booth 216, call 863-802-3738 or email tevans@impulse.com.