Australia’s Ballarat Grammar School blocks Web threats

Ballarat Grammar, an Anglican school located in Victoria, Australia, has selected the HP Sentinel Security software-defined network (SDN) application, part of HP Virtual Application Networks, to block network security threats and enhance learning opportunities for students.

Ballarat Grammar’s network supports 1,400 students and 200 faculty members, each with school-issued laptops or unmanaged, bring your own devices (BYOD), such as smartphones and tablets. Key security issues like botnets, spyware and malware created significant vulnerability to the school and impacted student productivity.

“Our students have full access to their school-provisioned laptops that they also take home, and boarding students bring their own devices onto campus, too, which seriously hinders comprehensive management and effective implementation of security protocols,” said Gregory Bell, head, Technical Services, Ballarat Grammar. “With HP’s Sentinel Security application, our networking team has greater visibility into malware and infections, which is much more effective than antivirus software alone.”

Deployed on HP 3800 Switch Series systems throughout its five boarding houses and 95 classrooms, HP Sentinel Security enables Ballarat Grammar to automatically locate and flag infected devices while connected to the campus wireless or wired networks. Prior to using HP Sentinel Security, Ballarat Grammar would spend days manually identifying network infections and their origination point when students returned from summer break, which created additional work during an already hectic time.

Education without distraction
Access to social media and user-generated content was distracting students during class—frustrating teachers while also limiting learning opportunities.

The HP Sentinel Security application enabled Ballarat Grammar to improve student productivity by controlling and protecting access to social media networks in a specific classroom, during class hours only.

HP Sentinel Security, running on the HP Virtual Application Networks SDN controller, enables automated, real-time security across the network switches, routers and access points, while reducing the need for IT to deploy and manage multiple devices. The application combines OpenFlow-enabled network devices with security intelligence from the HP TippingPoint Reputation Digital Vaccine (RepDV) database.

In addition to HP Sentinel Security, Ballarat Grammar deployed the HP Intelligent Management Center, a single-pane-of-glass tool to simplify management of its multivendor campus environment.